It All Started in the Tunnel of Love
by Vadergirl52
Summary: The four survivors are making their way to New Orleans but along the way, two of them begin to realize there may be more to this zombie apocalypse than shooting and trying to stay alive. When they're finally safe, what then? Where will they go? Who do they have except maybe each other? This is a story about Nick and Rochelle and what could happen along the way to safety.
1. Chapter 1

_It All Started in the Tunnel of Love_

_I clearly don't own Left 4 Dead but I DO enjoy playing it. I came here looking for some Nick and Rochelle pairing and found that particular category sadly short. Hence, I've decided to write my own. It's all done, I just have to type up the final draft and will post new chapters as I finish. Thanks for R&R. _

**Chapter I**

Rochelle couldn't pinpoint exactly when the dynamic in the group began to change. All through the trip from the hotel to the mall, the four of them-well, not Ellis, not ever Ellis- had been businesslike and polite enough, but not what you'd call friendly. A zombie apocalypse clearly made for strange bedfellows. No, it wasn't in that first week they'd spent together. Maybe it was when they'd met the other group of survivors.

The three-once four-people they'd met at the bridge were a tight-knit fighting team: a _real_ team. They cared about each other and were still visually shaken by the loss of their other member. One of the men, Rochelle couldn't remember his name, had been wounded and wasn't able to move much yet. The other two weren't going anywhere without him so they were waiting for his leg to be healed enough to move. They'd helped her own group as much as possible and had seemed like a family more than the strangers that had been thrown together as her own group had been.

Well, let's be honest. It wasn't easy with Ellis' constant enthusiasm and Nick's perpetual comments about leaving as soon as he could. But when they had made it to Whispering Oaks and were still together after three weeks, Nick's comments had disappeared (although Ellis' enthusiasm hadn't) and Coach had become their leader. That change in dynamic had been nice. The one she was thinking about now, however, wasn't that one.

Rochelle thought for a few moments as she continued cleaning her shotgun. It was a mindless action she did every night when she was on watch to help her stay awake as well as give her time to think. She turned her head to look at the sleeping figures of the men behind her, but her gaze lingered on one in particular. _He_ was the cause of the change. But when had it started?

Nick shifted in his sleep and Rochelle turned back to her weapon. It must have started in the tunnel of love. She grimaced at that. It sounded like a _really_ bad opening line for a romance novel. But it was true. They'd fought their way through nearly the entire amusement park and came across a safehouse in, of all places, the tunnel of love…

***FLASHBACK***

_She had been bone-tired after fighting their way through a horde that had been attracted by the sound of the carousel starting up. Her gun had jammed and Nick had tossed her a machete he'd been carrying. As she'd collapsed on the floor of the saferoom in exhaustion, Nick had come over and sat next to her._

"_Here, let me see your gun," he'd said, holding out his hand._

_She'd handed it over and then pulled his machete from behind her, wiping it off in the process. "Thanks, Nick. If it hadn't been for you I would've been screwed."_

_A sparkle came into his eyes and one corner of his mouth lifted in a cocky grin. "Well, Darling, that can still be arranged."_

_She'd been caught off guard by that flippant remark and had laughed. "Keep dreaming, Lover Boy," she had quipped back._

"_I think things have calmed down out there," Coach observed, "Ellis, you up for a little foraging, Son?"_

_Ellis cracked a smile. "Hell, yeah! Let's check the food stands!"_

"_I'll stay and provide cover," Nick offered, reloading the hunting rifle he'd found._

_Coach nodded and he and Ellis headed out. After a few minutes spent still catching her breath, Rochelle stood up and went to the table filled with ammo. The next thing she knew, she was unceremoniously sprawled on the floor with Nick kneeling down next to her, concern evident in his eyes._

"_Rochelle! Come on! Wake up!" He was shaking her, his voice getting louder._

"_Wha-what happened?" Rochelle sat up with Nick's help and felt the world spin again._

"_Whoa there, Honey! Take it easy!"_

_She felt Nick's strong arms go around her, steadying her. What was wrong? She felt herself shaking a little bit and she felt light-headed. Oh God...was she infected?!_

"_Nick! What's wrong with me?! Did I get bit? Am I going to turn into one of them?!" Rochelle was angry at herself for sounding frightened._

"_Let me see your back," Nick said, all traces of his usual sarcastic self gone. Helping her take her bloodied shirt off, he let his hands gently skim over her light mocha skin: bruises, scrapes, scars...but no bite marks. "I don't see any Rochelle."_

_Coach and Ellis walked in at that moment and stopped dead in the doorway: the looks on their faces, priceless. Ellis was the first to speak._

"_Um, you know-uh guys-if you wanted privacy or something-." His face flamed red as he pointedly stared at a speck of dried blood on his boot._

"_It's not like that at all!" Rochelle answered hastily, slipping her shirt back on._

"_Little Sister, we aren't passing judgment or anything," Coach started._

"_She passed out. I was helping her check for bite marks on her back," Nick cut him off, standing up._

"_Ohhhh," Ellis replied, once again looking in their direction now that Rochelle was covered properly._

_Coach was immediately all business. "What happened?"_

"_I heard a thump and turned around to find her out cold on the floor," Nick started_

"_When I came to, I felt really light-headed and shaky," Rochelle added. _

_Coach was quiet a moment, considering. "Rochelle, when was the last time you had something to eat?"_

_Rochelle though back-and found she couldn't remember. "I'm not sure."_

"_Girl, you're hungry! Here-we found some decent stuff!" Ellis excitedly produced hot dogs and popcorn. "The dogs were in a fridge that was still working."_

_She had been equally relieved she hadn't been bit, grateful for the "real" food, and embarrassed that she had been so easily scared. Rochelle simply was NOT one to shy away from anything: hence her assignment to cover the outbreak. And Coach was right-after she'd eaten, the dizziness passed. How stupid could she have been? She was most embarrassed that Nick had been witness to her entire moment of weakness. Of all the men to be there for it, why him?_

_She sat down on the soft carpet and began cleaning her gun. Ellis and Coach were having a discussion about the merits of a carbine versus an AK-47 and Nick was laying stretched out not far from where she sat. She thought he was asleep but when he softly asked, "Hey, how're you feeling?" she realized he was awake._

"_Foolish. Embarrassed. Lame," she replied. _

_Nick leaned on one elbow and turned to look at her. "Why?"_

"_Because! I acted like a scared little girl! That's not me!"_

"_Honey, with all the batshit crazy stuff we've seen in the last three weeks, there have been times when I was scared like a little girl."_

_Rochelle looked at him, searching for the smart ass smirk or wink to show he was making fun of her again...but there was nothing but honesty. She had smiled and settled back, thinking to herself maybe Nick wasn't all cold-hearted like he enjoyed projecting._

***END FLASHBACK***

And now, two weeks later, here they were at the edge of a swamp, still trying to get to some kind of permanent safety. They were holed up in a storehouse of sorts...a dry safehouse on the other side of a huge swamp leading to a plantation. They were trying to find some kind of transport to New Orleans where, according to the map they had seen four weeks ago, there was what looked like the last evac center on the East Coast.

Four weeks? Had they really been together that long already? Rochelle shook her head. It was both a long time and yet so brief. She supposed being thrown together for four weeks in a life or death situation helped people get over their normal inhibitions and the social niceties associated with getting to know someone.

When they had first been thrown together, Rochelle had disliked Nick immediately. He was clearly a loner and no wonder. Rochelle could not stand arrogance. He had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with anyone once they got to the EVAC station. But when they realized there was none at the mall, he eased up a bit. When they'd run into the other group of survivors at the bridge and the biker had flirted shamelessly with her another side of Nick showed through. He had acted as if he were jealous, making odd comments that weren't normal for him. She had thought it just another part of his annoying personality, but now she wasn't so sure.

After that safe-room incident in the tunnel of love, there had been a change in his cocky attitude. He still made sarcastic comments, but now they were amusing and had lost their acerbic quality. They had managed to summon the helicopter in the concert arena and they were all getting in when Rochelle had seen a real difference in Nick. Ellis had been hurt and was limping to the chopper. Nick was ahead of him and stopped, waiting for Ellis to catch up as he laid cover down for him. He helped Rochelle pull/push Ellis into the chopper before getting in himself. Just as Nick had reached up to the hovering runner above him, a Smoker ensnared him, pulling him back into the stands. Rochelle had grabbed her hunting rifle and in one, smooth move, brought it to her shoulder and fired once, hitting the Smoker right between the eyes. She dropped her rifle and called, "Coach! Cover me!" and jumped out of the 'copter to sprint to Nick.

They both made it to the helicopter, safe if not totally sound. Nick nearly collapsed on top of her and then, in a shaky voice said, "Thanks, Ro. Thanks for coming back."

She had been ready to toss back a flippant remark but when she looked at him, his eyes held no hint of their accustomed hardness. That had thrown her a bit and she'd just smiled in return. "I can't let anything happen to you, Nick. Who else is going to call me Sweetheart?"

Yes, Rochelle decided, as she finally set her near-sparkling clean gun down in preparation to wake Coach for his watch, their team was starting to feel more like a family. Albeit, it was a highly dysfunctional one, but it still felt good.

"Coach...hey, Coach," she gently shook the large man. He woke up fairly quickly.

"My turn?" he asked a bit groggily.

"Yep. Everything's been pretty quiet so far," Rochelle informed him.

"Good….good. Get some sleep, Ro," he said, standing up and getting his gun.

She nodded and took Coach's spot on the floor of the cramped saferoom. Turning on her side, she glanced once at Ellis, who was dead to the world, and then rested her gaze on Nick, who was right next to her. Her last thoughts as she drifted off were about the color of his shirt and how it matched his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It had been more difficult and time consuming getting to the plantation house than they'd anticipated. It was only a short distance from the safehouse to the massive old home, but apparently every single worker had stayed on the plantation and consequently succumbed to the sickness. For every step they took, they encountered ten infected. But they had finally gotten into the house and were now standing in the grand foyer at the foot of a massive staircase taking stock of their situation.

"There might be a boat out beyond that back wall. It's the river right there. There has to be a boat," Coach said, cracking the door open a bit to look out.

"Well, you'd think that's true but one time, my buddy Keith," Ellis began. "Well, he was sure these rich folk by us had a boat out back and he figured he'd take my dare and go streaking. Let me tell you, those bees were sure upset with him when he ran into their hives! He tried real hard-,"

"Son. Was there a boat or not?" Coach cut in.

"Oh. Sorry. No. There wasn't," Ellis finished quickly.

"Well, I guess the only way to find out is to go out there and take a look for ourselves," Coach decided.

"I think there's ammo and some guns out there," Rochelle observed.

"And some health kits," Nick added.

"Well, that decides it then. We can't stay here forever," Coach said, hefting his axe.

The four quietly slipped out the back door and onto the sprawling, wrap-around porch. Coach led the way with Nick bringing up the rear. There were fewer infected back here in the garden and none really paid any attention to stocked up on ammo and headed to the gate leading to the water. It was locked, but Ellis was able to climb up with a boost from Nick where he could see an empty dock.

"Sorry, guys. I hate being right about this," Ellis shook his head as he slid back down to the ground.

"Damn. What do we do now? We're in the middle of nowhere here," Nick cursed.

"We could try making our way along the riverbank and hope we come across a boat that way," Coach suggested.

Rochelle looked around as the guys continued discussing options. She saw another table several feet away and wandered over to it. There was a radio on it and it was still charged. Shrugging her shoulders, Rochelle picked up the mic and gave it a try. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

She nearly dropped the mic when a voice came back at her. "Well, hello there! It sure is good to hear another voice! Where you at?" came the thick Southern drawl.

The others hurriedly gathered round as Rochelle replied. "We're holed up at a big plantation house right on the river."

"I know where that is. Listen-get yourselves together and hang on for a bit. I should be able to get there in about half an hour. My name's Virgil. See ya soon!"

"Half an hour? We can do that," Ellis said.

They heard a half-strangled moan and looked up to see two infected running towards them. Coach took one swing and beheaded them both. Looking around, they saw more starting to notice them.

"I think we need to get back to the house until Virgil shows up," Nick said, raising his gun and taking aim at what was once a woman staggering towards them.

"I agree, Nick," Coach replied. "Come on. Let's brace ourselves up on that second floor balcony where that big gun is set up."

On their way through the house, Ellis stopped to check in a few rooms and came back with some pipe bombs and molotovs plus a few bottles of some aspirin he had found. They divided the spoils up amongst them and found a room right off the balcony with two exits that were easily defendable. The hard part would be staying still and waiting for rescue to arrive.

Rochelle took a spot in the back corner of the porch and brought her newly found carbine off her shoulder. Coach and Ellis took up spots just at the point where the porch turned right to go around the front, so Nick came back to stand next to Rochelle on her left, guarding the side railing.

"Awfully quiet," Ellis muttered.

"I imagine as soon as that boat comes into earshot it'll stir things up," Coach answered, leaning against the railing.

As Coach and Ellis continued to talk, Rochelle looked out across the vast expanse of what should've been a gorgeous garden. She could almost see the beauty if she kept her gaze high enough to avoid the scattered bodies in various stages of decay that were sprawled throughout the grounds.

"You seem lost in thought. Something bothering you?" Nick asked quietly.

"You mean other than being caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?" she asked, with a little laugh.

"Point taken. You just looked a little more lost than usual," Nick replied. "I thought maybe you were thinking about someone somewhere."

"No-not really. Both of my parents died a few years back," Rochelle said quietly.

"Sorry to hear that, "Nick replied. "No brothers or sister?" Here he paused for a moment before continuing, "Or a boyfriend?"

Rochelle laughed ruefully. "I'm an only child. As for a boyfriend-well, that's really the reason I wound up in Georgia in the first place."

Nick waited to hear the rest but when Rochelle didn't volunteer anything more, he prodded, "You moved here for him?" Why was he asking? It wasn't like it was any of his business and he was breaking his own rules; never learn too much about someone. It made it easier to walk away if you didn't let yourself get to know anyone. But there was something about Rochelle that made him curious. She was the strongest woman he'd met in a very long time. She sure as Hell was no damsel in distress-not with the way she swung an axe!

"I guess you could say that. I was engaged to Malik for just about two months when I caught him with my best friend from work. And when I say I caught them, I mean in the worst way possible." She laughed again, a short, self-deprecating laugh.

"Wow. Geez, I'm sorry, Rochelle. I didn't have any idea-," Nick tried to apologize.

"It's okay. I wanted to get out of there-I'm sure you can imagine-so I volunteered for the first assignment out of town." She looked back at Nick. "And voila! That's how I wound up in the middle of this nightmare. Although this one is probably a little better than the one I ran away from."

Rochelle got up from her seat on the floor and went to Coach, who was examining the large gun that had been stationed in the middle of the porch. Ellis was talking about using it to blast a hole in the locked gate to get to the boat that would soon be arriving. Nick only heard half of the conversation, though. He was still processing everything Rochelle had told him. He knew what it felt like to discover the person you loved with someone else. He could empathize with her. As he watched her making a quick study of the gun and how the ammo fed through it, he realized he was primarily thinking about how smart she was. Well, that was a first for him! That's not saying he didn't appreciate her looks and body-he'd already checked those out weeks ago. But he couldn't help but think about how this small woman was so full of surprises. Beauty, brains, personality-and that's when Nick came to the realization he was wading into extremely dangerous territory. Not only did he find her attractive, he actually _**liked**_ her. And that was not good. Shaking his head, Nick roused himself from his thoughts and walked over to the others.

"I'm pretty sure this gun will take care of that gate. I'm just worried about the attention it's going to attract when we do it," Coach was saying.

"I agree but how are we all going to jump over it? You need one person on the ground to do the boosting up. How does the last person get up?" Ellis asked.

"You're right," Coach sighed heavily. "And it looks like that boat may be coming. Something is stirring our friends up," he observed, seeing the infected starting to move agitatedly around the gate and surrounding wall.

Nick cocked his head, trying to listen, and thought he could barely make out an approaching motor. "Well, looks like it's time to see if the gun works!"

Rochelle swung it around to point at the gate and then looked at the rest of the group. "You ready?"

The three men nodded, bringing their guns to bear and Rochelle opened fire. As soon as she did so, most of the infected turned in the direction of the noise and started running towards them. Rochelle kept firing until the gun nearly overheated and finally the gate fell apart, revealing the dock on the other side. They could hear a boat horn from not far away and then their attention turned to the infected climbing the railing in front of them and filing up the stairs of the house to their rear.

Their position on the top porch made it easier to defend. A smoker had tried to grab Ellis but because of the railing, failed miserably. Nick polished it off with one shot before Ellis had even had a chance to cry out. As the infected swarmed up the stairs and rails, it was almost as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Rochelle began to think they'd make it out of this relatively unscathed. She could hear the engine of the boat now and knew they only had to hold out a little longer. It made her feel better and when she was in a good mood, she felt little could stop her. She glanced quickly to her right where Nick stood picking off the infected that tried to climb the post from the ground level. She saw one zombie slip past Coach and run towards Nick's unprotected back. In one smooth move, she turned and aimed her gun over Nick's head and dispatched it before it could reach him. The look of shock on Nick's face was priceless and she had to laugh.

"Damn, Rochelle! Way to give me a heart attack! I thought for a minute you'd decided to take out your anger at men on me!" he quipped.

"Nah-I have better ways to do that-and I'd want to take my time," she threw back. It was worth the innuendo to watch his eyes widen even further and then hear the laugh he barked out.

"I hate to break up your little flirting session, but it looks like that boat is here," Coach called.

Everyone turned to look towards the river. Sure enough, the boat was coming up to the dock. "Time to go, Kids!" Nick yelled.

Ellis took the lead down the stairs inside the old plantation house followed by Rochelle with Nick and Coach bringing up the rear. On the way, they grabbed more ammo and got to the back door.

"This ain't going to be easy," Coach said, spraying the closest infected with his AK-47.

"Nothing worth having ever is...that's what my momma always said," Ellis quipped with his usual boyish enthusiasm. "But this should make it a little easier," he added, tossing a vial of puke at a particularly slow moving infected. Immediately, it was swarmed and the way to the path to the boat was cleared.

"Good thinking, Son!" Coach said as he motioned Rochelle and Ellis ahead.

It was a short sprint to the demolished gate and Rochelle turned to lay covering fire as the others raced to the area. Coach was bringing up the rear when she heard it. She searched wildly for where it was and Nick's eyes widened as he caught up to her.

"Where-" he gasped out.

"Tank!" Ellis screamed, panting behind Coach. It was coming from the house and had ripped up a massive chunk of concrete step, which it aimed right at the running man.

"Coach!" Rochelle screamed, as the big man stumbled. He didn't go down though, and as he continued running, he yelled out, "Keep going!"

Nick pushed Rochelle towards the docks. "Go! I'll cover him!"

She jogged a few feet away, pulling a molotov out with one hand and her lighter with the other. Ellis ran forward to Coach, helping to lay down covering fire. The tank had gained ground and was getting closer when Rochelle heard another roar from the left side and saw yet another tank.

"Get on the boat!" Nick screamed at her. As Coach and Ellis ran/staggered past, she lit the cloth sticking out of the neck of the Yuengling bottle and threw it with all her might on the ground just in front of the two approaching tanks. Both were immediately engulfed in flames and she turned around quickly to see Ellis and Coach reaching the boat. Then she felt herself being yanked nearly off her feet as Nick grabbed her arm and spun her past him.

"Go!" He yelled at her, turning to empty a clip from his sniper rifle into the two behemoths. Then he was running beside her as Coach and Ellis shot over their heads. As she launched herself onto the boat, Nick yelled, "Go-go, go!" and landed beside her.

The boat cleared the dock just as the first tank reached it. The smell of burning flesh wafted to them briefly and then was taken away by the wind generated by the moving boat.

"They don't get much closer than that, Folks," a voice called from the cabin and the survivors picked themselves up to move to where their savior was steering the boat.

"Thank you so much for picking us up!" Rochelle exclaimed upon meeting the captain.

"Oh, it's my pleasure! I was beginning to think there was no one left. Hearing your voice come over the air gave me hope again. My name's Virgil. What's yours?" the rail thin older man asked. He looked to be in his fifties and had a weathered quality about him that made the survivors feel instantly at ease.

"I'm Rochelle and these are my friends Coach, Ellis, and Nick," Rochelle introduced themselves.

"Pleasure to meet y'all," Virgil replied, shaking each one's hand. "Where y'all headed?"

They looked at each other and Nick replied for the group. "New Orleans. It's the last EVAC station on the East Coast. At least that's what we've heard."

"Yup. That's what I heard, too. But I also heard they're pulling out fast. I can drop you folks off there if you want. Right now we're in Weeks Bay. If we hug the coast, we're about two days east of New Orleans. Shouldn't be a problem getting there 'cept I'm going to need to stop for gas. Hope y'all don't mind helping me out with that. There's a place in Biloxi I can pull in to tomorrow. It's right off the dock and seeings how y'all have guns, I thought you might be willin' to 'blige me," Virgil semi-asked.

"Brother, you saved our lives back there. I think we can get you your gas," Coach replied good naturedly.

"Well thanks a lot! Now, I'm guessing you four might want to clean yourselves up a bit. I've got a pumping, salt water shower if you'd like. Got a few spare shirts that might fit ya if you want to wash your own things," Virgil offered.

"Mister, you just won a place in my heart forever," Nick exclaimed.

"Y'all get yourselves cleaned up and then I'll give you some poles and we can catch our supper, Virgil added.

"I LOVE fishin'!" Ellis exclaimed excitedly. "One time, my buddy Keith and I…"

"I call first dibs on the shower!" Rochelle interjected.

"Second!" Nick exclaimed.

"You're last, Son," Coach added, clapping Ellis on the shoulder.

Ellis looked confused for a moment. "Well, okay then."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

As she toweled off, truly clean for the first time in what had to be weeks, Rochelle found herself in a genuine good mood. It was amazing what being free of blood, gore, dirt, and slime could do for one's outlook on life. She finished patting dry her hair and threw the clean shirt back on over her wet pants. She'd scrubbed as best she could and since Virgil didn't have anything but a few clean shirts, she had to make do with the wet pants. She tied the button down shirt up around her waist and looked briefly at herself in the small mirror in the bathroom. She had two bruises on her right cheek and looked exhausted. She hardly recognized herself. Letting out a long sigh, Rochelle tried tucking a few stray strands of her hair back into the dreds they'd escaped from and found herself wishing for some make-up. Or at least some lip gloss. She certainly wasn't at her best and was just vain enough to be annoyed. She stopped and looked hard at herself in the mirror.

"And just _who _are you trying to impress in this crazy, end-of-days world you're in?!" she said to her reflection. It certainly wasn't for Ellis: too young and too immature, although sweet. Coach kept talking about his wife, whom he hoped was safe with her sister in the Florida Keys. That's where he was hoping to get to. So that only left Nick and Lord knew, THAT was just crazy. It was, wasn't it? Rochelle frowned at her reflection as if to scold it by saying, "Of course!" But the more she thought about it, the more she found herself thinking crazy thoughts about, "end-of-days...too little time left to worry about propriety" sorts of thoughts. And that kind of thinking was borderline stark-raving mad for someone her friends called "Miss Uptight".

"Girl, you gotta get yourself together!" she whispered to her reflection.

"Rochelle! How the Hell long are you gonna take in there? Leave some of the ocean for the rest of us!" came Nick's impatient voice.

She opened the door to find Nick's face inches from hers. "Geez! I took like ten minutes!" she exclaimed.

"More like twenty," Nick retorted, joking. He stepped aside to let her out, but the narrow corridor didn't allow for much passing room. As she squeezed by him, face to face, she stopped.

"Well, Nick, it takes some effort to scrub down...especially when you're as dirty as I was."

Nick paused for a moment and then leaned in. "You should have asked for help, Sweetheart."

She raised an eyebrow and saw the twinkle in his eye behind the Han Solo-like grin She slowly reached for his hand and brought it up to her chest, her eyes never leaving his. She saw the confusion replace the twinkle in his eyes and she leaned in closer so that their bodies were lightly touching. "Hey, Nick?" she whispered, still holding his hand to her chest.

"Yeah?" he whispered back, his mouth suddenly gone dry.

"Don't forget the soap," she finished, simultaneously slipping the bar into his hand and slipping past him and out the door.

Nick felt his face flame hot and laughed. Stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door, he leaned on the edge of the sink to collect himself before reaching over to turn on the water in the shower….cold. Definitely very cold…

The sun on her face made her feel good and, for the first time in what felt like forever, Rochelle let her guard down and just plain relaxed. Her ears weren't straining to hear any moans from infected, her hand wasn't resting on her gun, and she could actually close her eyes and breathe deeply, smelling only salt air. There was no hint of the perpetual smell of death and decay she'd been inundated with for weeks and it was refreshing and restoring.

She was sitting on the deck with her back against the sides of the boat, almost dozing, when she heard Coach say, "It's about time!" Rochelle heard Nick's smart ass retort and heard him walk past her.

"Damn, Nick! That's one Hell of a scar! Where'd you get **that**?!" Ellis whistled.

Rochelle decided to open one eye to see what the fuss was about. What she saw made her sit up and open both eyes.

Nick was standing a few feet from her, dropping his drying shirt and suit jacket over the edge of a fishing seat to dry. His back was to her and she could see part of the scar Ellis was talking about. It started just over his left shoulder blade and ran down in a sharp curve to disappear around his waist. The scar itself was old, but had clearly been life threatening. It seemed to be some kind of knife slice. His back was flawless otherwise. _'Nice muscle tone,' _Rochelle found herself thinking. And then Nick turned around.

"Yeah. Let's just say someone wasn't happy losing several thousand dollars to me in a poker game. Came up to me outside of the club and tried to stab me in the gut. I was too quick for that, though, and dropped and turned. His blade didn't go deep, but it dragged right along the path you see." Nick had turned to show Ellis his back as he finished his story.

Rochelle had followed the scar as he turned around but then found herself examining the rest of him. She didn't know what she'd expected but it wasn't this. Nick was in his mid-forties she guessed, but his body was toned. No signs of early middle age paunch on this man. No six-pack either, but his abdomen was tight and his chest and arms were hard. There was very little hair on his body-just on his chest-and that wasn't very thick. His arms were lightly muscled and she found herself watching a vein on the inside of his arm shift under the surface of his skin. She followed his arm up to his shoulders, lingering a moment on his collarbones, and then glanced up to find him staring at her with one eyebrow raised.

"See something you like?"

Rochelle was immediately thankful for her dark skin and training as a reporter. She felt the heat of blood rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment, but she put her reporter face on. Closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the railing, she coolly answered, "Maybe." She heard a stifled laugh from Ellis and Nick's snort.

Rochelle faked her disinterest and pretended to doze when she was anything **but **ready to rest. _'What the __**Hell**__ are you thinking?!'_ she argued silently with herself. _'Have you lost your mind?! This is __**not**__ the time to be thinking about things like that! And for God's sake, Nick?! Girl, you're battier than a fruit bat! Get yourself together!'_

She was still silently admonishing herself when she heard Coach return and send Ellis to his shower. He heaved a sigh as he sat down next to her and stretched his legs out.

"Sure feels good to be clean...**really** clean," he commented to no one in particular. Rochelle cautiously opened one eye and scanned the area. Nick wasn't there so she opened both her eyes and looked at Coach.

"It sure does. I'm so grateful to Virgil for having the foresight to install a shower!"

"Amen to that!" Coach sighed in response.

They sat in companionable silence for a while until Ellis reappeared, himself shirtless. Rochelle glanced at him and saw he was muscular and well-built, bigger than Nick in his chest with the beginnings of a six-pack...but Rochelle found herself looking over Ellis' shoulder to where she could see Nick coming back to their end of the boat, holding some fishing rods.

"Well, if you're all tired of scavenging for potato chips and candy bars, try your hand at catching your dinner." Behind Nick followed Virgil with a cooler.

"Y'all know how to fish?" he asked. "I've got your bait in this here cooler." He set it down and opened it. Standing back up, he pushed his worn baseball cap up high on his head to scratch his scalp.

"Sure we know how to fish!" Ellis exclaimed excitedly. "Who doesn't? And you got some nice minnows here! We should be able to hook something good."

"Well, if you want to fish the bottom, this is a pretty good stretch for flounder. Mid-depth you might get some haddock," Virgil supplied helpfully. "You might want to spread out and try different depths."

Nick looked at Rochelle but before he could say anything, Ellis interjected. "Come on, Nick! Let's go to the front with Virgil! I'm an excellent fisherman! This one time, my buddy Keith and I…"

As Ellis pulled Nick with him, Nick looked over his shoulder at Rochelle with a mock-horrified look as he mouthed the words, "Help me!" She, however, burst into laughter along with Coach. They could still hear Ellis happily telling his story at the other end of the boat as Coach picked up two poles and handed her one.

"Um-Coach?" Rochelle started.

"Yeah, Ro?"

She looked sheepish. "I've never fished in my life."

Coach let out another laugh and baited her hook for her. "It's real easy, Ro. Here, I'll show you."

After a demonstration, Rochelle tried her hand at casting. The first time she caught the hook, minnow and all, on a seat cushion behind her. The second time she forgot to release and the force of her cast sent the minnow flying off the hook. Laughing, Coach baited her hook again.

"Ugh! I feel so bad for that little fish!" she exclaimed as she watched Coach thread the hook through its back.

"You feel bad for a minnow? I've watched you do far worse to at least a thousand infected!" Coach laughed.

Rochelle considered that for a moment. "True. But they're trying to kill us. This little guy didn't do anything to deserve this."

"Point taken," Coach replied, wiping his hands on a towel hanging from the handle of the cooler. "Now, take your swing easy. You don't need to worry about distance. You're going for depth." He reached behind her and helped her with the cast, which went the perfect distance. "See? It's easy."

They settled down to wait for a bite. As they relaxed, forgetting for a moment the Hell that they were headed back to, they chatted. Coach talked a lot about his wife and his team. He was the coach of a small college football team at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. They'd been in Savannah for a playoff game when things went bad. He recounted how he'd gotten the boys on a CEDA evac bus, but there hadn't been enough room for him, too.

"God, I sure hope and pray they're all right and made it out. I'll never forgive myself if something happened to that bus."

Rochelle put her hand on his arm. "You did everything you could. You can't hold yourself responsible any further after they left your sight."

Coach wiped his face and sighed heavily. "I know. Doesn't stop me from worrying, though. I'm pretty sure Caroline is okay, though. She left our house in St. Augustine at the very beginning of this mess. She has a sister who lives in the Keys. She was headed there before we knew about this because Patrice...that's her sister...needed help with the new baby. I heard from her the day I met you three. She was there and was getting on the family's sailboat because doctors were saying to keep infants away from any chance of catching the 'flu' that was spreading." Coach paused. "Wish I could know for certain, though. Or at least put her mind at ease about me. She worries so. But hey...what about you? Got someone worrying about you, Ro?"

Rochelle shook her head. "Parents are both gone and I'm an only child."

Coach turned and looked at her "No young man wondering where you are?"

Rochelle sighed. "Not any more. Just me."

"Mmmhmm," Coach acknowledged.

Rochelle laughed. "What does, 'Mmmhmm' mean?"

"Nothing….nothing."

They spent a few minutes silently watching their lines. Rochelle glanced towards the front of the boat when she heard laughter. She saw Virgil clapping Ellis on the back. She also saw a rare sight; Nick was smiling. There was no trace of his normal cynicism in that smile and it made him look younger. She caught the flash of white teeth and then saw him look her way. She hurriedly turned her head back.

"Ro, I want to tell you something, I feel kind of like you're my little sister and I need to speak my mind about something I just want you to promise to hear me out and not get mad, okay?" Coach asked.

Rochelle frowned, "Ohhhhh-kaaay."

"I don't like seeing someone make a mistake and if I can prevent that, I'm going to try my best. Everyone needs someone in this world. I need my wife. She's the best woman there is and without her, I don't know where I'd be. Ellis has someone: his buddy Keith. The thought of him helps keep that boy going. Now, you've told me you don't have anyone in your life. That hurts me. But I see someone else who also doesn't have anyone...so I think to myself, 'Why not the two of them?'"

"Coach! You can't be-" Rochelle started, trying to cut him off.

"Rochelle, I remember you promising to hear me out," Coach interjected. Rochelle felt like a scolded player on his team and snapped her mouth shut.

"Now, you might think I'm just a jock, but I've got two eyes. I can see things. Maybe things you can't even see yourself. For instance, I see the way you two have been shooting each other looks lately. I see you two falling into an easier friendship. And I hear the things you've been saying to each other lately. You've definitely changed your tunes. So all of that makes me want to see you two allow what's natural to progress."

"Coach. I can't," she began again.

"Woman, I'm not done yet. Hold on to your comments 'til I tell you I'm done."

She sighed again.

"So I'm thinking about all this and I'm trying to figure out why one of them is fighting the idea when the other seems to be giving in. So, Rochelle-now I'm asking you, why are you keeping your distance from him?" Coach paused for an answer.

"Look at what he's done! Who he is! How can you expect me to ignore what little he's told us about himself? Or more like what he **hasn't**?" Rochelle immediately countered.

"Little Sister, let me tell you something, These are some crazy, end-of-days times we're going through. I think that makes a lot of the relationship rules go out the window. And as far as his past-well, all I know is his present. That man has saved all of our lives more than once. I ain't in the habit of judging anyone by their past. What he's done in his past hasn't affected me. Everybody makes mistakes. And now, more than ever, I think people need to understand that and be willing to judge each other on their merits **now**."

Rochelle was quiet and glanced towards where Nick was sitting. Was it as simple as that? These **were** crazy times. Didn't she deserve a little fun at the very least?

"Ro, I don't like to pry so I'm not about to ask you any personal questions. But what I do know is what I see. And I've been seeing a lot on your face lately; 'specially when you're looking his way. All I'm going to say is this; our time might be real short. We're sure living on borrowed time right now. Why not make the most of it? Find what comfort you can. You need that and I'm sure he does, too. Don't judge a man on his past...judge him on his present."

With that, Coach stood up and, as he walked behind her, put his hand gently on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze before heading to the other end of the boat.

Rochelle sat quietly, gazing out across the ocean, mulling over what Coach had said. Nick was definitely **NOT** her type. Well, at least the way he was when she'd first met him had definitely turned her off. But it was true...what Coach had said. The Nick she knew now wasn't the same, sarcastic asshole who had first joined their group rather reluctantly. She supposed sharing life or death experiences with someone changed things. And he was certainly easy to look at. His hair had grown a bit in the weeks they'd been together. She had the feeling he didn't like it. He was constantly running his hand through his hair and sighing in what seemed like exasperation. Personally, she liked it a little unruly. It made him seem a bit dangerous in a sexy way.

Rochelle shook her head at that thought. Why did she keep thinking about him like that lately?! "Seriously," she said aloud, shaking her head again.

"Seriously?" Nick echoed. He'd wandered over while she sat lost in thought.

Rochelle turned to look at him. He was still bare-chested and had that maddening, shit-eating grin on his face. "Nick, you need to wear a little bell around your neck. You're like a cat-too quiet and all sneaky!"

Nick laughed at that, amused at the picture it painted in his mind. "Well, I suppose I could arrange that, but it might attract more infected than we'd want."

"True," Rochelle replied. She found her eyes dropping to his collarbones again..then to his chest. She found herself wondering if the hair there was soft or wiry and then berated herself for letting her mind...and eyes...wander yet again.

It didn't go unnoticed. "Geez, Rochelle. I feel like a piece of meat around you! Always staring at me. My eyes are up here!" He laughed, catching her discomfort immediately.

"Oh, please. Don't flatter yourself. I was just looking for any scratches or bite marks." It sounded lame even to her own ears.

"Nah. Unfortunately, it's been a while since I've had a woman that interesting," he countered, baiting her.

She couldn't help herself. She laughed out loud and he joined her. "I'll bet you have a lot of stories to tell about your many conquests," she said, sighing at the end of the good laugh they'd shared.

"Maybe. But that's all in the past," Nick replied, still smiling, but sounding more serious.

"Yeah, I guess a zombie apocalypse can put a dampener on your chances with the ladies. Most of the ones we've seen would probably **not **be your type," Rochelle agreed.

"You're right. **Most** of them aren't."

Rochelle laughed at the insinuation that some were. "Well, you say the witches sound like your ex-wife so maybe them?"

"God-if you only knew her!" Nick mock shuddered.

Rochelle laughed again. She was finding it easier to do that lately and it felt good. "Don't tell me spitters are more your style!"

Nick shook his head again. "No, I'm not into sagging breasts and acid breath."

"Well then, I guess you're into your run-of-the-mill rotting zombie female who just wants to literally eat you alive then," Rochelle concluded.

"Actually, you're wrong again."

"Well, there aren't any other females out there, Nick. Oh! Unless you bat for the same team-?" Rochelle teased.

Nick flashed an annoyed look. "Hardly. But you've missed the most obvious choice, Ms. News Reporter."

Rochelle frowned in thought, but when she met his eyes again, she could read what he was thinking as loudly as if he had said it. His expression had changed and he leaned forward so his arms were resting on his legs as he sat. His eyes were the most interesting shade of blue-gray. Why had she never noticed that before? She turned to face him fully, feeling her face grow hot as he continued to lock his gaze with hers, not saying anything.

"Nick-," Rochelle began, but before she could vocalize anything going through her mind, she felt the fishing pole jerk and it nearly flew from her grasp.

"Holy crap! What's going on?!" She yelled, scrambling to keep hold of the pole.

Nick burst into laughter. "You've got a fish! Reel it in!"

Rochelle looked at him in alarm. "'Reel it in'?! How?! I've never fished in my life!"

"What?! NEVER?!" Nick exclaimed in surprise.

"No! Help me!" she replied, fighting to hold on to the pole.

Nick stood up and came behind her. "Here-let me show you," he said, reaching around from behind her to hold the pole just above her hand with his left, while covering her right hand with his. "Keep the rod up but not too high-like this. Then, slowly start turning the reel. Make sure you don't try too fast. You don't want to lose him."

Rochelle had not honestly heard much of anything Nick had said, As soon as his arms went around her, she felt her body's circuitry begin to go haywire. His bare arms and chest were pressed against her and as he spoke, his mouth was right near her left ear. She could feel the vibration of his voice in his chest and his words tickled her ear, sending shivers coursing through her body. What distracted her the most, however, was the scent of soap on his skin mixing with his undefinable natural scent. She closed her eyes for a moment against the sudden rush of sensations.

"Rochelle, you gotta give me a little help here," Nick said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Right! Sorry," she replied, clearing her throat when her voice cracked on the first word. She began turning the reel, keeping the rod firmly clasped in her left hand. As the fish came close to the boat, Nick pulled away from her and grabbed the net, scooping it up in one swift catch.

"What is it?" Rochelle asked, leaning the rod against the side of the boat.

"Looks like a kind of catfish. Bet it's good to eat!" Nick replied, smiling at her, "You did good, Rochelle! Especially for your first time."

Rochelle smiled back at him and reached out to lightly push him on his chest. "**You're** really the one who caught it." She reached up and gave him a spontaneous hug out of pure excitement and joy. She pulled away after a moment, but Nick only let her pull away a short distance. He didn't relinquish his hold on her entirely and held her eyes with his own. "That was nice," he said quietly.

"Yeah," she replied, shakily. Her hands trailed down from his shoulders as she slowly pulled her hands back. Hard. His chest was hard. Her gaze had dropped with her hands and she saw a small scar just over the right side of his chest. Her finger traced it as she realized it was a new one-probably from the hunter that had jumped him back in the mall. When his hand went to her chin and gently urged her to look back up at him, she found herself staring into his eyes again.

And that's how Ellis found them when he came around the keel house. "I heard y'all yelling. Did you…," he trailed off as the two of them pulled apart. "Uh, did I interrupt something?"

"No!" Rochelle hastily answered.

"Yes!" Nick replied at the same time.

They looked at each other in consternation and Ellis took the opportunity to change the topic. "Well, we've caught a couple of bass and I heard you two getting excited over here so I figured maybe you'd caught one, too. Y'all did, didn't you?"

Nick picked up the net he'd dropped on the deck and handed it to Ellis. "Here. It's a catfish." And with that he walked back to the other end of the boat.

Rochelle was standing in the corner as far away as she could be from the conversation that had taken place. Ellis could see she was agitated and walked over to her.

"Uh, Rochelle? I'm awful sorry. I have the worst timing. I didn't know you and Nick wanted time alone," he began.

"We don't want to be alone!" Rochelle cut him off. "He was just helping me catch a fish. That's all."

Ellis scratched his head and looked uncomfortable. "You know-I don't want to intrude or say anything that would be inappropriate, but it seems to me that there's something happening between you two."

"Ellis, Sweetie-I appreciate you trying to be concerned, but this is really not what it seems. Nick was just being nice," Rochelle stopped him.

"Well, I don't know what you Northern girls are used to, but down here-when a man is holdin' your eyes with his like Nick was, it means a sight more than, 'I just wanna be nice'," Ellis reasoned.

"Well, when a 'Northern girl' says, 'It's not what it seems', she really means, 'Mind your own business'!" Rochelle said exasperatedly.

"Okay, Rochelle. Sorry to have bothered you," Ellis said, backing up and apologizing. "Want me to take your fish and clean it for ya? I'm doing the ones we caught now."

"Yes. That's fine," she dismissed him.

She turned her back to Ellis, feeling a twinge of guilt about how she was treating him, but only a twinge. She sat down and stared out across the ocean. The sun was hanging low in the sky, heading towards sunset, and for the first time in weeks, she didn't feel nervous. Sunset was no longer beautiful. It meant finding a safe place to hole up for the night and fast, because you didn't want to be caught out at night and not be able to see far enough around you. Tonight, she wanted to enjoy the sunset.

She was always able to clear her mind and keep calm during high pressure situations, something that had been of enormous help these last few weeks. Now, with the gentle rocking of the boat, the sound of the waves lapping at it, the occasional cry of a seagull overhead-everything someone needing peace of mind could want-her thoughts were in a turmoil and she could only think about one infuriating thing: Nick.

This whole situation was driving her crazy. She would never be drawn to him in normal times. He was sarcastic, arrogant, and God only knew what he did for a living. He was no doubt a shameless flirt and had probably romanced more women than she could count. He had an ex-wife who he seemed to despise. Who knew what happened there? She probably caught him with another woman and took him for all he had.

'_But did any of that affect you? Did he do any of that to you?' _a little voice that sounded suspiciously like Coach's whispered in her mind.

"No. But given the chance now, he probably would," Rochelle whispered back in response.

'_You don't know that. People change,' _it replied.

Rochelle snorted. "That's what Malik told me. He changed all right...right into a creep!"

'_You can't judge someone based on someone else. Nick has changed just since you met him. He's not nearly as abrasive as he was.'_

Rochelle didn't have a comeback for that. It was true. He **had** become nicer-more sincere. But he was probably worried that the rest of the group would leave him behind if he continued being such a jerk.

'_That's not fair, Rochelle,'_ the voice needled. _'You were afraid and didn't act completely like yourself, either.'_

That was true. She'd put on a much braver front than she actually feltShe **still** was. She hated being considered weak. That was one thing she would **not** tolerate in herself-even if she was absolutely terrified every time she saw a tank.

'_What do you have to lose? Any of you could get pounced on by a hunter or set upon by a witch at any moment and that would be it. Your life would be over before you could possibly act on-or regret-anything. Don't you deserve some comfort and companionship in what may be your last days?'_

For the first time in a long while, Rochelle thought about her mother and father. They had loved each other with a passion that she'd envied. Her mother was fond of telling the story about how they'd met. Her father had been a real "bad boy" in his younger days but her mother had "tamed him and brought him around". Rochelle had asked her once if she'd been afraid of her her father and she'd shaken her head.

"_Baby, your father has always been a good man. He liked to act all tough and bad but inside I could see that wasn't him. He needed the right woman to see through his shell. Bad boys are just good boys who've been hurt. That was your father."_

Rochelle thought about that. Was that Nick? She didn't know for sure. She laid her chin on her hands and felt the gentle rocking of the boat finally begin to soothe her. Nick was everything she never went for. But he was handsome. His sarcastic comments were beginning to grow on her. Would it be so terrible to have something to look forward to in this crazy time? His smile really did get to her…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Hey, Little Sister," Coach shook her gently, waking her from the position she'd unwittingly fallen asleep in. "Come on in and have some supper."

Rochelle stood up from her stiff position on the deck of the boat and shook her head, trying to wipe the sleep from it. When had she fallen asleep? Yawning, she followed Coach into the cabin of the boat.

There was a small table with couch seating around it and Ellis and Virgil were already sitting and talking. Rochelle followed Coach and slid in next to him, eyeing the plate of fried fish hungrily. Nick appeared from around the corner where the galley was, carrying two mugs. He sat down across from Rochelle and slid one mug over to her. She raised her eyebrow questioningly and he replied, "Coffee."

"Oh, Virgil! You're just too good to be true! A shower AND coffee?! I might have to marry you!" she exclaimed. They laughed and then dug in to the first real meal they'd had in weeks.

Rochelle was the last to finish eating. As she pushed her plate away and sat back, she glanced across the small table at Nick. He was fully engaged in listening to Ellis' story about being a mechanic and how he came to be in the middle of this insanity. They'd heard Virgil's and Coach's tales and Rochelle had herself told a relatively short tale about how she'd come to be at the Savannah Hotel as well. She took the time to watch Nick's reactions and was pleasantly surprised to see how different he looked when at ease. The hard frown line had smoothed out, his eyes had brightened, and his mouth curved up in a grin. Ellis recounted a funny anecdote and Nick actually laughed out loud, a sound that Rochelle had never heard. She was still looking at him when Nick sat back and looked at her and, instead of dropping her gaze, she smiled at him. He returned the smile with one of his own and shook his head.

"That kid has more stories than a ninety-year old sailor!"

Rochelle laughed at that remark.

"I'll bet you have a lot, too, Nick! Come on-it's your turn. How'd you wind up at the 'Vannah? Where're ya from" Whatcha do?" Ellis asked, eager to hear more.

The smile on Nick's face lessened a bit. "I lead a pretty boring life. You don't want to hear about me."

"Come on, Nick! We don't know anything about you! I'll bet you have the most interesting job here!" Ellis persisted.

Nick picked up the spoon from his coffee and twirled it a few times, "I was in Savannah on business."

Ellis waited but when Nick didn't elaborate, he pushed him a little more. "Well, what do you do for a living? Who do you work for?" 

Nick was silent a moment. "I travel a lot. I had to go to the Diamond Casino Riverboat to oversee some of the operations there for my boss. It's my job to make sure the managers of the casinos he owns are doing what they're supposed to be doing. This guy wasn't."

Coach sat back. "Hmmm. I get it. That sounds like an interesting career, Nick. You travel a lot, huh?"

Nick looked at Coach, thankful for the break in Ellis' questioning. "Yeah. Savannah is new. I usually spend time in New York, Atlantic City, and Vegas."

"So where do you call home?" Rochelle asked, leaving the other things hanging in the small room unsaid.

Nick looked at her for a moment. "I don't know. I don't have a house or an apartment anywhere, if that's what you're asking. I grew up on Long Island so I guess that's as close to home as I have."

Ellis had been silent, trying to piece things together. Rochelle saw the understanding finally flash behind his eyes. "Wait! You mean you work for the Mafia?! Are you like the counselor guy in _The Godfather_?! Oh man, that's sooo cool! I **love** that movie!" Ellis was all excited about the prospects of knowing someone actually in the Mafia and was oblivious to the fact that Nick looked uncomfortable and Rochelle was trying to change the subject.

"So did you ever have to 'convince' someone to do something? Oh, man-I hope you've never put a horse's head in anyone's bed. I mean, that was a cool idea and all, but I felt bad for the horse!"

"Ellis-" Coach tried.

"Did you have lots of women all wanting to be your girlfriend? I bet a guy like you could have any girl he'd want!" Ellis continued.

"Ellis-," Virgil tried.

"Whoa! What about a gun? I've seen the way you shoot...especially with that magnum. Do you carry a gun for your job? Have you had to use it?" Ellis was just getting revved up now.

"ELLIS!" all four of them yelled at once.

It grew suddenly quiet and when Nick put his spoon back down with a clink, all eyes turned to him.

"Yeah, Ellis. I've done all those things." Nick stood up and left the cabin.

Everyone was dead quiet until Coach broke the silence. "Boy, what is **wrong** with you?! You gotta learn when to shut your mouth! Don't you know nothin' 'bout 'social cues'?!"

"Seems to me ain't nobody got a perfect past," Virgil remarked. "These days, ya gotta take people on their present."

"You're right about that, Brother," Coach replied, still staring angrily at Ellis.

"I didn't mean no harm," he said. "I didn't think-"

"Son, you **never** think! Coach exclaimed.

"Excuse me," Rochelle said quietly as she stood up. "I'm going to go check on him."

Virgil whistled long and low and pushed his cap back up on his head. Stroking his lengthy beard, he remarked, "That young woman is sumpin' special for sure. They been an item since y'all hooked up?"

Coach was still looking at the door where Rochelle had disappeared. "Virgil, Nick's been working on that since we hooked up but she ain't havin' none of it...until maybe now."

"Hmmm," Virgil acknowledged. "Seems like they could both use each other right about now."

Coach turned and looked at him. "You hit that nail right on the head."

There was a light breeze blowing as Rochelle walked up behind Nick at the far end of the boat. He was standing against the railing looking out at the moon on the water. She stood there quietly, not saying anything, not even knowing what to say. They stood there together for a while, silently watching the waves. Rochelle closed her eyes momentarily, just feeling the breeze play across her skin.

"It's kind of funny, now that I think about all this," Nick said quietly.

Rochelle opened her eyes and leaned her back against the railing so that she was facing Nick.

"I wound up working for Carlo because I'd known him since we were kids in high school. We were always like brothers. I knew what he was involved in-I'm not stupid-but I always thought I'd just be on the business side of things. And I was, for about ten years. But the more traveling I had to do, the more I had to be involved in the 'less attractive' aspects." Nick shook his head, trailing off here for a little while. "The thing is, you can't leave that job. It doesn't work that way. The longer I worked for him, the more I knew, the more I had to do, the less likely I could leave."

Rochelle stayed quiet. She could still think of nothing to say.

Nick laughed self-deprecatingly. "That scar I have? The one the guy with the long knife gave me? Well, let's just say he's not going to do that to anyone else. And there were a few others. Never for any reason other than self-defense, mind you. But it's not like I'd be doing it in any other line of work." Nick ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I guess I can consider myself out of the business now. Too bad it took the Goddamn end of the world to make it happen. Guess Diana is screwed now. No more alimony for her. At least that's something. She'll probably be a witch by now. All her whining and complaining about never having enough money to make her happy is the perfect wail for a witch. She always pushed me to get deeper into the business with Carlo. She thought I'd make a better living as one of his capos. Guess that's why she left me for one." Nick shook his head and then turned to look at Rochelle.

"Have I scared you enough now? Ready to get the Hell out of here as soon as you can? Gonna sleep with one eye open at all times and make sure I'm never out of your sight?"

Rochelle looked at him. She could almost see the wall he had up around him, protecting him from what people could do or say to hurt him. But she also saw a flash of something else in those blue-gray eyes: something that looked suspiciously like a veiled hope. Acting completely on instinct, Rochelle reached out and took him by the shoulders, turning him to fully face her.

"You're right, Nick. I'm not going to let you out of my sight." She moved closer to him and stood up on her toes. Holding his eyes with hers, she reached up and kissed him softly on the cheek, a fraction of an inch from his mouth. When she pulled away, she saw the confusion and shock in his eyes, but she had already crossed a line she hadn't consciously realized she was going to, so she turned and went back into the cabin, leaving him there in silence.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Rochelle thought she'd spend a sleepless night thinking about everything that had happened, but her body overrode her mind and she fell dead asleep. She woke up with the sun shining in her face through the little skylight in the tiny cabin that held a small bed. As the only woman, the men let her have the separate room. She'd enjoyed the best sleep she'd had in a while, feeling refreshed and better than she had in weeks. Getting dressed, Rochelle wandered out to the galley where someone had already made coffee, bless them. She poured herself a cup and then climbed up the small set of steps and out onto the deck.

Nick was already there, talking to Virgil. She took a deep breath and walked up next to him.

"Good morning," he said, smiling at her.

"It **is** a good morning, thanks to Virgil. I still can't believe there's coffee!" she replied.

Virgil laughed. "That's the one thing I always make sure to stock up on! You can never be too careful or have too much coffee."

They all laughed at that and Ellis appeared, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Mornin', All." He looked at the sky and frowned. "Looks like a storm's comin'."

Rochelle looked to where he was pointing and saw the darkening clouds headed their way.

"My guess is they'll make short work of the sun by noon," Coach said, appearing behind Ellis with a mug of coffee.

"Well, that means we need to get moving on that gas run, then," Nick replied. "Virgil said there's a station by the dock not far from here. He's gonna drop us off and wait for us there. Let's get in and get out."

"I really appreciate you helping me out, Folks," Virgil responded. "I know I wouldn't be able to do it myself. That means I'd just be drifting with no power."

"Well, let's get a move on then. I don't want to be running around in a rainstorm, shooting zombies and lugging gas around," Coach replied.

"Okay then. I'll start the engine up and we'll be there in no time," Virgil said, headed to the wheelhouse.

Ellis and Coach followed Virgil and then it was just Nick and Rochelle.

"How'd you sleep last night?" he asked quietly.

"Pardon the pun, but like I was dead," Rochelle replied.

Nick laughed lightly. "Cute. Very cute, Rochelle."

"How about you? Get any rest?" she asked.

Nick took a sip of his coffee. "Eventually. I had a lot on my mind that kept me up for a while." Here he looked at her, holding her gaze with his until Rochelle smiled and looked away.

"I did a lot of thinking myself," she said quietly.

"Oh? Come to any conclusions?"

She looked back up at him, the blue of his shirt reflecting the color of his eyes. "A few," she smiled.

He smiled back and then a devilish glint lit his eyes. "Have you come to the conclusion that I'm irresistable?" He moved closer to her, stepping into her personal space, making her stomach feel fluttery like she was back in high school talking to a boy against his locker.

But Rochelle was not about to be that easy on him. In one smooth move she side-stepped away from him and said, "Well, I've come to the conclusion I'm out of coffee," and with that, slipped away.

"Maddening. She's maddening as Hell," Nick mumbled to himself, slowly smiling.

"Why is nothing ever easy?" Rochelle grunted, swinging a baseball bat at an infected's head, splattering it everywhere.

"Hey! Watch where you're hitting things!" Nick complained, looking down at the fresh patch of brains and blood on his shirt.

"Sorry," she replied, cracking a smile at his vanity.

"After this shit show is over, you are buying me a new suit!" Nick mock-angrily quipped as he took aim and shot a stumbling infected with his sniper rifle.

"'After'? Since when are you hanging around 'after'? You didn't even want to hang around 'during' this mess!" Rochelle threw back as they continued through the old courtyard of the sugar mill. They'd had to travel through the mill on their way to get gas. The station right by the dock had been bone dry and they'd had to shoot and hack their way two miles through infected to get to another gas station that, thankfully, still had gas.

The four of them came to a stop in a safe room at the edge of the mill to catch their breaths. Nick stopped and leaned against the wall next to Rochelle.

"That was before I got to know you better, Sweetheart," he answered, winking at her devilishly.

Again, in spite of their circumstances, Rochelle found herself laughing.

"It takes someone special to see humor in our situation," Coach grunted, trying to catch his breath.

"My momma always said I was special," Ellis interjected and then frowned in thought. "But she always said it like she meant something else.

At that, Coach and Rochelle both laughed, annoying Nick and confusing Ellis.

"Thanks, Guys. It's good to know you care so much about me that you're putting me in the same category as Ellis here," Nick groused.

"Don't be sore, Honey-I care," Rochelle said and gave him one of his own devilish winks back before laughing at the look of consternation on his face.

"If you two are done flirting, how about we get a move on?" Coach quipped.

"We aren't far now," Ellis added, looking out the door of the safe room. "We have to get through that little housing development and then the Burger Tank is just on the other side. Man, it's sure flooding, though," he observed. "Even the roads are flooded. What is this, a hurricane we're in?"

Nick moved next to him and looked out. "Damn, you aren't kidding. And the wind is picking up, too. Guess our luck is running out. I knew we'd have to pay for getting through all those witches so easily,'' he said, wiping his face of water and smoothing his hair back.

"Well, there's nothing to be helped for it. Let's just pray we get through this with no tanks showing up," Coach said, walking back to the pile of ammo they'd found on a table. He pawed through it, looking for the right shells for his automatic shotgun. "Everyone, stock up with everything you can carry."

Rochelle was glad to find more bullets for her hunting rifle. It was her favorite weapon and she'd run out of ammo while in the mill. She carried a baseball bat but if she had to use that, it meant the infected were too close for comfort. She found a few pipe bombs and a molotov, but in this torrential rain, she didn't think that would be much good. She was loaded down with a heavy gas can, her rifle, the bat, and a health pack. She had no room for anything else except one pipe bomb. She stood up straight after tucking it into her belt and staggered a little. Nick saw it and came over to her while Coach helped Ellis find ammo.

"You okay?" All traces of sarcasm were gone and they concern in his voice was evident as he reached out a hand to steady her.

"Yeah. It's just a lot of extra weight I'm not used to," she replied, a little embarrassed.

"Lighten your load. Want me to carry something for you?"

"Nick, you already have as much as you can handle. We all have to pull our own weight." Rochelle wished she felt as confident as she sounded.

"I'll be right next to you, so just ask if you need help," he said, the frown of concern still on his face.

"I thought **I** was the one who was supposed to be keeping an eye on **you**," she smiled.

"Don't try to change the subject, Ro. I'm worried about you."

Ro? He never called her that. Coming from him it sounded intimate and that damn, sixteen-year old fluttery stomach feeling came back as he held her gaze. And then he reached over and tucked an errant piece of hair behind her ear. She thought she'd been hit by lightning because her entire body felt staticky and her stomach jumped into her throat. Her mouth opened but no sound came out and before she could even think of a reply, much less form one, he'd turned and went to the door of the safe room.

"Everybody ready?" Coach asked, lifting the bar on the door.

Rochelle managed a nod when he looked at her for confirmation and brought her rifle to bear. What the Hell had just happened? Was she a damn teenager again? As they stepped out into the wind-driven rain, Rochelle felt a little clarity return. "Girl, you need to get your shit together!"

They hadn't realized how bad the storm was until they were out in it, trying to slog through the calf-deep water. They could barely see and they couldn't hear anything at all-which was terrifying.

"This nightmare just got worse!" Nick yelled.

He was walking right next to her yet Rochelle could barely hear him. This was bad: very, **very **bad.

They stumbled their way to a ladder leading up to a rooftop and began to climb. It would be better on the roofs but it was slippery and the wind gusts didn't help matters. It was, however, easier to pick off the infected that swarmed towards them, unfazed by the storm. When they tried to climb to the roofs, they shot them in the head, knocking the ones behind down, too. Once or twice Rochelle slipped and, if not for Nick, would have fallen. Both times he grabbed her by the arm, steadying her. The third time she slipped, he missed.

One minute Rochelle was jumping to the next roof and the next, she was lying on her back with the wind knocked out of her enough that she couldn't call out or even move. What was worse was her gun had slipped out of her fingers and lie just a few feet away. But it might as well have been a few hundred feet away for all she could reach it. What was still worse was the high pitched keening of the very disturbed witch whose feet she had landed at.

By the time some feeling came back to her and she could start slowly inching away from the highly agitated special infected, Rochelle could tell the witch was going to snap. She weighed her options and then lunged for the gun. She heard the final scream as it went after her and as her hands closed on the gun, she cringed, anticipating the horrible claws ripping into her flesh.

A shot rang out so loud, right next to her ear, that Rochelle could hear even less around her. She looked up in time to see the witch launch her bleeding body over her and directly at Nick, who was just behind her. The shot that would have instantly killed a regular infected seemed to have little effect on the witch. Blood and entrails hanging out from the massive hole in her stomach only seemed to anger her as she changed her course and knocked Nick to the ground. Rochelle heard a scream, realized it was her own, and in one smooth move, rolled with the rifle and used the momentum to wield it like a club right at the witch's head. The sickening squelching sound it made as its head nearly ripped completely off would have been enough to make anyone vomit, but Rochelle dropped the gun and ripped the now dead witch's body off of Nick.

There was blood-lots of blood-all over his once white suit. Rochelle felt lightheaded and thought she was going to collapse for a moment. God, please...not Nick!

"Nick! Nick, are you hurt?!" she yelled, trying to be heard above the storm.

His eyes opened and he grunted in pain as he tried to sit up. Infected were beginning to swarm and Coach and Ellis had dropped down next to them to help.

"I'm okay," Nick replied through gritted teeth. "Help me up. We need to get to the safe house."

Rochelle and Ellis got him standing and Ellis grabbed his gun and handed it to him. "Damn, Nick! You had us scared!"

He still had his arm around Rochelle, leaning on her like a crutch as they stumbled towards safety just a few yards in front of them. "I had myself scared."

As they stumbled in through the door and Coach slammed it shut and bolted it, Nick's legs gave out and it was all Rochelle could do to let him down onto a couch without completely dropping him onto the floor. She immediately dropped everything she was carrying and knelt down on the floor next to him.

"Nick! Are you okay? How bad did she get you?" she asked hurriedly, terrified at the answer.

"I've been better, Sweetheart," he replied through clenched teeth.

"Let's get you out of your jacket," Coach said and Nick obliged, but he slouched back before being able to get much farther.

Rochelle took one look at the long tears in Nick's shirt and knew it was going to be bad. Blood was seeping through, soaking his shirt. She looked at his face and saw the pain glazing his eyes. She started unbuttoning his shirt while Coach opened up his health pack.

The witch had gotten him good. The claw marks ran down from his collarbones to his waist. Both hands had hit him at the same time, causing the marks to almost meet at his belt. They were deeper up top because the witch had only gotten one swipe at him as she fell before Rochelle had knocked her off.

"This hurts like a bitch," Nick mumbled through clenched teeth. "How bad is it?"

Rochelle thanked Coach for the cloth with anti-bacterial fluid on it and then started gently cleaning his wounds. "Well, it's not pretty and you're going to have some serious scars, but you'll be back to your smartass self in no time," she smiled, sounding more confident than she felt.

Nick nodded once, easing back a little. "Good to know my number ain't up yet."

Rochelle looked up from her work. "Thank you, Nick. Thank you for saving my life. She would've done this to me if it hadn't been for you." She reached out and gently touched the side of his face.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were falling for me, Sweetheart. I'd like to pursue that topic, but I think I'm about to pass out," Nick mumbled in reply, before doing just that.

"It's probably best he's out. I imagine this is going to hurt something fierce," Coach said quietly, handing Rochelle gauze and ointment that would have to go right into his wounds.

She agreed and got to work. She managed to take care of most all of the wounds but hesitated when she got to his waist. Her face heated again and she asked, "Coach? Would you mind undoing his belt and all to see how far we need to bandage?"

Coach let out a small chuckle and obliged her. "It's all good. I don't think he needs any extra attention down there...at least not yet."

Ellis laughed and Rochelle fumbled the last piece of gauze. Once he was wrapped up, Coach helped shift Nick's legs onto the threadbare couch so that he'd be more comfortable and then put his hand on her shoulder.

"Let him rest. We're almost back to the dock and Virgil isn't going anywhere without the gas. We can give Nick an hour or so before we move."

Rochelle nodded, standing up and following Coach into the kitchen. "He saved my life, Coach. He took the witch's attack for me. How do I thank him? Repay him? I don't even know where to begin," she stated, unsure of so much.

Ellis stepped in at that. "Rochelle, I think the best way to thank Nick is to give him a chance. I don't wanna step on no toes or nothin'..." He paused, making sure she understood he didn't want to make her mad. When she nodded, he continued. "It seems to me he's changed a lot these last few weeks. I don't think he's the same guy. And you heard him last night...he ain't exactly happy about his past. Maybe you could think about that. I mean, if you don't like him like that, it's okay-but if you're not sure, why not give him a chance to prove he's different now?"

"Ellis, that's the smartest thing I've heard you say," Coach said, walking over to the kitchen table and sitting down.

If she'd needed any more convincing, Ellis had just done it. The most any of them could hope for now was to finally evacuate and find those they loved. Neither Nick nor she had anyone: which made them perfect for each other. Ellis and Coach were both right. She was preventing herself from falling for him because she couldn't be sure about his past. Why was that important? Why...especially now when who knew how much longer any of them had?

Rochelle sighed and went to sit next to Coach. She was tired now that the adrenaline rush had abated. She was also sore from where she had fallen. She was sure her back would be bruising after landing on it...and the gas tank strapped to it...and she was surprised she hadn't broken anything. She picked her gun up and began to dry it off, checking every moving part twice over. Ellis chatted about inconsequential things, keeping them all occupied while they let Nick rest. An hour passed quickly and then another half an hour when Coach made the call to wake Nick up.

"I'll go check on him," Rochelle offered, missing the exchanged looks behind her back.

Walking into the living room where Nick lay on the couch, Rochelle's eyes were drawn immediately to the bandages on his chest. There was only a small bit of blood seeping through and she felt a little better about the situation. She sat on the edge of the couch and, when he didn't awaken, she took the opportunity to gently lift a stray lock of hair from his forehead. She lightly touched his shoulder then, and let her fingers gently trace down his arm, admiring his toned biceps. Her fingers stopped at his wrist and she gently clasped his hand.

"Why did you put yourself in so much danger for me?" she whispered quietly.

"I heard women are suckers for men who need nursing back to health," came the unexpected reply.

Rochelle jumped, startled...and then she grew annoyed. "You think you're real cute, don't you?"

One eye opened. "Maybe. But I'll bet **you** do."

Rochelle snorted. "I didn't realize the witch had hit your head so hard you'd hallucinate," she returned smiling. "You're not cute."

Nick opened his other eye. "Well, I sure do catch you checking my body out a lot. Then I guess you think I'm hot," he rejoined.

"Someone is certainly feeling better," Rochelle said, lifting one eyebrow.

"How could I not with such a sexy nurse by my side?" Nick smiled devilishly.

Rochelle sighed in mock exasperation. "You're too much." She smiled though, and squeezed his hand. "You think you can manage the last little way to the Burger Tank and the dock? We have to get over that broken down fence and then it's right there. We're only about fifty yards or so away."

Nick slowly sat up, grimacing a little. "I should be okay. I feel a little stiff and the cuts are aching a bit, but nothing too horrible."

Rochelle gave him an appraising look before reaching into the med pack by the couch. "Here," she said, handing him three painkillers. "Take these now and then take some more once we get on the boat." She handed him a bottle of water she'd refilled from the kitchen sink. "I'll change your bandages then, too. I want to make sure those wounds stay clean so they heal right."

Nick was sitting up with his hands on his knees as he listened to her directions. "Do you want kids?"

The question caught her entirely off-guard. "Do I-what?!"

"Do you want kids?" he repeated simply.

She was so befuddled she stammered a reply. "No. I never-I mean there's never been-why?!"

"Because you're sure acting like a mother hen right now!" Nick laughed at her discomfort.

"Ugh! You are the most maddening man I've ever met! I give up on you!" she replied, standing up in frustration. She turned to go but he stopped her with his words.

"Ro-don't do that." It was said quietly and the sarcasm had disappeared, making her turn to look at him. He met her eyes and she saw something in them that made her stop: hope, hurt, and something she couldn't name. She went back to him and he handed her his shirt. "I need your help with this, please."

She laughed and held the shirt out while he turned and gingerly slipped his arms into the sleeves. She let her hands rest gently on his shoulders and turned him around to face her. She bent her head and started buttoning his shirt for him. She left the top two unbuttoned and looked back into his eyes when she was done. Neither one said anything for a moment until Nick said softly, "Well this is a first. I've never been turned on by a woman putting my shirt **on**."

Rochelle laughed again and stepped away. She walked to the doorway and then something made her stop and turn back for a moment to say, "If you decide to stick around for a while, you'll find I'm full of 'firsts'." And just as quickly as she'd turned to say it, she turned and went back into the kitchen, leaving Nick to stare in her direction.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"I think we should stay on the roof! We have the advantage that way!" Coach yelled over the force of the storm as the four survivors stood in the driving rain.

"Agreed!" Nick yelled in reply.

"Can you climb the ladder?" Rochelle asked, worried about his wounds.

He nodded and Ellis said, "I think the master switch for the sign is up there. We want to throw the switch to signal Virgil. Let's load up on ammo and supplies. When we light that thing up, we're gonna attract zombies like moths to flames!"

"That's for sure," Coach said. They got inside the restaurant and grabbed what they could, including two more health packs. Five infected charged them at the same time from the kitchen area, but Ellis sprayed them with his AK and they went down. Rochelle helped Nick slip a health pack around his waist and gingerly adjusted the straps on the gas tank he carried on his back, trying to ease the pressure of the straps near his chest. Then the four of them headed to the ladder up to the roof. Coach and Ellis went first with Nick following and Rochelle bringing up the rear to make sure Nick was okay. The storm made it so hard to hear, she nearly missed the infected that lurched out of the shadows at the last instant to grab at her arm. She screamed in surprise but reflexes kicked in and using her gun like a club, she smashed its head in and then kicked it back.

"You okay down there?!" Nick yelled, shining the flashlight of his gun back down the ladder.

"Yeah," Rochelle replied shakily, scrambling up the ladder herself. "Some guy got a little grabby with me. Had to show him who's boss." She managed a small smile for Nick's benefit and he shook his head at her.

"Remind me to hide your weapons when I make a move!"

Rochelle laughed, but inwardly felt that rush again in the pit of her stomach. Damn him and his flirtatious remarks!

Suddenly the miserable day lit up as Ellis flipped the switch on the huge, turning neon sign above their heads and Coach half-prayed, "Please, Virgil! See that sign!"

"Here they come!" Nick called, pointing in the direction they had come from the safe house. Twenty, forty, maybe even a hundred infected were swarming over and around the fence across the street, heading right for them. Coach tossed a propane tank on the ground and knelt to take cover behind the roof's ventilation system.

"Get back!" he shouted. They did and when the horde was almost blocking sight of it, Nick pulled his rifle up and with one shot, the cylinder burst into a bloody spectacle, taking out at least ten infected at once.

"Behind us!" Ellis cautioned and he and Rochelle turned on a dime to pick off the ones climbing up the back wall to the roof. They worked like a well-oiled machine, each member of the team instinctively turning to cover four directions. Once or twice one side got overrun and someone else turned to shoot that way. Rochelle thought about how she'd admired that other group of survivors and how they'd been such a tight-knit group and realized they, too, now had the same cohesiveness. She glanced at Nick and he threw her a wicked smile before turning back to the task at hand. And then her happiness turned to sour ash in her mouth. In the distance she could hear it.

"Tank!" Coach called, pointing towards a distant tree that had suddenly splintered as if a giant baseball bat had struck it.

Of all the infected, special or not, this was the one that terrified Rochelle the most. The best way to kill one was to nail it with a molotov and then shoot the hell out of it. With the drowning rain, however, the molotovs weren't staying lit for long. What was worse was everyone's attention naturally turned to it as it approached, but that didn't stop the regular infected from coming. Dealing with both at the same time was harrowing to say the least.

"Get those other propane tanks on the edge of the roof! When it climbs up here, shoot them both at the same time, Nick!" Coach commanded.

Nick nodded once, grimly.

"Help!" Ellis screamed. They turned in unison to see a smoker pulling him across the roof. Nick raised his gun but couldn't get a clean shot. Rochelle sprinted towards Ellis, switching to her baseball bat and using it to swipe at infected on the way. She reached the smoker at the same time as Ellis and hauled back and swung mightily at the smoker's head. It erupted in a spray of bone, blood, and gore and Ellis was freed.

"Thanks, Rochelle!" ge gasped, rubbing his throat. And then his eyes went wide as he cursed, "Holy shit!"

Rochelle spun to see the tank already climbing to the top of the roof. The explosions from the two propane tanks nearly blew her ears in, but it seemingly only made the tank stagger. Coach began spraying it with his shotgun as Nick poured his own rifle into it. Infected were swarming up the sides of the building at the same time. Rochelle reached back and pulled a pipe bomb from where it was hanging from her med kit. The beeping noise and flashing light drew most of the infected away, but not the tank: never a tank.

By now, Nick and Coach were retreating around the gaping hole in the roof as the tank continued its approach. Ellis began spraying it with bullets and Rochelle jumped on top of the ventilation fan. From that vantage point she was able to get a good shot at its head. She poured her own gun into its skull as fast as she could. There were a few moments where she worried it was super strong, even for a tank, but then it staggered and fell to its knees, giving out one final roar. As it went down, it made one final swipe at Coach and knocked him just to the edge of the roof. Nick ran up to help him.

"Damn! That was a close one!" Coach breathed in relief.

"I think I hear something!" Ellis called.

"Can you be more specific?" Nick asked.

"I think it's a boat horn!" Ellis replied. "Virgil's coming!"

"Not a minute too soon!" Rochelle said, relieved. "Let's work our way down the back here. You okay, Coach?"

He nodded, limping a bit more than usual on his bad leg. Nick and Rochelle exchanged looks. "I think you and Nick should head to the dock first. Ellis and I will stay and provide covering fire for you," Rochelle decided.

"No," Nick shook his head adamantly. "You're going first."

"Nick, you're hurt and so is Coach. You know the deal: wounded first!" she replied in her no-nonsense voice.

"I think y'all should start moving. It's definitely Virgil coming and there are lots of infected being drawn here," Ellis interrupted, shooting three of the infected as they tried to climb the walls near where the four stood.

"Let's go!" Rochelle insisted, pushing Nick in the direction of the back roof below the one they stood on. "We can jump down to that and then to the roof of that pickup truck to get down. You guys first!"

Nick gave her a dirty look but capitulated. Coach eased down first and Nick picked off infected below until he got to the ground. Then Nick gingerly went down as the others covered him and Coach. Rochelle and Ellis both got down to the lower roof and laid down covering fire as the two wounded men made their way to the dock, just as the Lagniappe appeared out of the rain and fog.

"Go ahead, Rochelle. I'll cover you to the edge of the dock," Ellis said and she jumped from there to the truck roof and then to the ground. She headed toward the dock and turned around.

Rochelle watched as Ellis jumped to the lower roof and then saw the look of surprise as a charger appeared out of nowhere, knocking him off the roof about ten yards to the left. It began pummeling him and she immediately began firing at it. It got two good slams on him before she killed it and Ellis was struggling to get up. She started running towards him to help.

"Rochelle! No! Come back!" Coach yelled and Nick did, too. Either she couldn't hear them over the storm or she pretended not to hear them because she continued towards Ellis. The two men watched as she slogged her way into the knee-high water that had saved Ellis' life when he was thrown from the roof. Nick watched as she came around the corner of the restaurant. He watched as a tank came out of nowhere over the fence to land nearly on top of her. And he screamed, "Son of a bitch!" as he watched Rochelle fall to the ground as the tank pushed over her to head towards the boat. Coach and Nick opened fire on the behemoth and Nick lit and threw a molotov as he jumped off the boat to head towards the spot he'd last seen Rochelle.

"Nick! Damn you! Where ya think you're going?!" Coach yelled as he continued pumping the tank full of ammo. The sickening smell of its burning flesh reached them as it got closer.

"Goddamnit!" Nick yelled in frustration, realizing Coach was right. He was in no condition to be "running" anywhere. He turned and poured his own clip into the beast as it got closer. The fire was almost completely out already but the creature was slowing down. Nick turned part of his attention back towards where he'd seen Rochelle go down. Suddenly he saw her come up out of the water and continue to Ellis who was slowly limping towards her. Nick watched as she got her arm around him and let him lean on her shoulder to help move him faster.

Nick felt his heart lurch back into work and, as the tank fell to its knees and then flat on its face just a few feet in front of him, his eyes met Rochelle's as they waded through the water. She looked at him in terrified confusion and yelled, "Why aren't you on the boat?!"

"Because **you're** not!" he yelled back in frustration.

"Get a move on!" Coach yelled and Nick slid painfully under Ellis' other arm to speed them to the boat.

There was a dual roar from behind and just as they got on board, two tanks emerged from the restaurant, barreling towards them.

"Virgil! Go!" Coach yelled, and the boat took off more quickly than any of them could have expected. Ellis staggered to a seat and then a wave from the giant slab of concrete one of the tanks had thrown rocked the boat sideways. Rochelle and Nick lost their balances and both fell, Nick on top of her.

As Nick struggled to get off Rochelle, she laughed shakily at their compromising position. He stopped, staring at her for a moment, and she watched his eyes as emotions she couldn't name flashed through them in an instant. Then suddenly he grabbed her by her arms and pulled her up to her knees.

"You think this was funny?! You think what just happened was a fucking joke?!" he yelled at her.

Her mouth dropped open as she tried to formulate a response.

"You think risking your life like that was smart?! That tank nearly stomped on you! Ellis was incapacitated and the only two people left to help you were both hurt as well! Did you even **think** about that?!" The anger in his voice was evident and his eyes flashed with barely controlled fury.

Rochelle felt herself get angry. "What did you expect me to do; leave him there?!"

"Yes! That's what I'd expect you to do for any of us in that situation! We need to act as a team! You shouldn't have run off by yourself!" Nick returned hotly.

"That's bullshit! I was the only one not hurt! I **had** to go!" she bit back.

Nick pulled her closer to him and shook her. "No! You didn't! What the Hell did you think you'd be able to do if a smoker or jockey or **any** other special got you?! You'd have been dead before any of us could have gotten to you! You can't do that again!"

Rochelle was even angrier now. "Why the Hell are you acting like this?!"

"Because I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you!" Nick replied through gritted teeth.

Before she could work out what he'd just said, Nick pulled her to him and his mouth closed on hers. It was a kiss born of frustration and desire and Rochelle's senses went haywire. Before she could do anything more than close her eyes, Nick pulled away and stood up. "Don't you **ever** do something like that to me again," he said softly. She opened her eyes to see him turn and head towards the wheelhouse.

There was a cough and then an exclamation of pain from Ellis and Coach said, "Come on, Son. Let's get you inside and take a look at your hurts."

"I think I'm okay. Just bruised up mighty good," Ellis replied as the two went below deck, leaving Rochelle kneeling there on the deck. The rain continued to fall, hiding the tears that now coursed freely down her cheeks.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The two nights they spent on the boat headed to New Orleans passed uneventfully, if not peacefully. Nick acted as if nothing had happened, leaving Rochelle unsure about everything. He seemed to be purposely avoiding her: not an easy job on such a small boat. Rochelle spent most of the time sitting quietly, trying to piece together her thoughts. Ellis and Coach spent it talking to Virgil.

Early on the second evening, Virgil told them they'd reached the waterfront dock and that he'd anchor far enough away to avoid any unwelcome visitors. That night at dinner they outlined their plan.

"That map we saw a while back said this was the last evac point. There's a military post down by the bridge over the Mississippi. Virgil says we're getting dropped off just about five miles from it, but I reckon there are tons of buildings we can take cover in when needed. I think we should be able to make it in a day or two at most. What y'all think?" Coach asked.

"I think it's doable," Ellis replied.

"I agree with Ellis," Rochelle added.

They turned to look at Nick who was playing absentmindedly with his fork. He looked up at them and cleared his throat. "I'm sure we can do it but I'm just wondering-maybe we should consider finding ourselves a boat. Being with Virgil here has kind of made me realize it might be a good idea to hole up out here on the water. I don't trust CEDA and I trust the military even less." He said it quietly with conviction and no one quite knew what to say.

Ellis was the first to break the silence. "I think that would be real cool. I'm willing to try it but maybe we should see how it goes with the evac station first. That's just my opinion."

Coach nodded. "I agree. I'm hoping if we get to a genuine evac station, we can find out about missing people. I sure hope I can find out for sure about my wife and my boys on the team. It would set my mind at ease."

Rochelle was quiet for a moment, considering. It seemed that they might be nearing the end of their journey together...IF all went well. Of course, that was a big if. She wanted to be safe-was that too much to ask? Being on Virgil's boat was the best time of the last month and a half she had spent. When they got to safety, she'd at first assumed they'd all go their separate ways. But now-now the prospect of that left a sour taste in her mouth. She looked at each of the men waiting to hear her opinion. Her eyes met Nick's last and held his gaze.

"I don't have anyone waiting or looking for me, so I don't really care. I'll go with you all so you can find out about your families and friends, but then I'd be happy to sail off somewhere away from this mess."

As she spoke, Nick's hard mask slipped a bit to reveal a flicker of something in his eyes. A smile, ever so small, curled one side of his mouth up a fraction before the mask slipped back into place.

"Nick-you okay with that?" Ellis asked.

"Yeah. That's reasonable."

"Then we're settled. Let's get a move on at first light tomorrow," Coach said. He stood up, gathering the dishes to clean up. "I'll take care of these and then I'm headed for some shut-eye. We've got a long way to go tomorrow."

"I can help you," Ellis said and stood up as well.

"I'm not tired. I'm gonna head out on deck for some air," Rochelle said and stepped through the narrow door and out into the evening air.

As she breathed in deeply, enjoying the fresh air and looking up at the stars, her mind wandered. What did the future hold? She had thought she knew what she was doing with her life and who she was. Then all of this happened and she was no longer certain of anything. She was too busy staying alive to think about her future. Having no ties was immensely freeing, but also, now-in these days-a little terrifying. Coach had his wife. Ellis had his friend Keith. Who did she have? But she wasn't the only one. Who did Nick have?

Finding herself thinking about him yet again made her realize she was feeling things she had sworn to herself not to give in to ever again after Malik. She laughed at herself out loud as she thought about how she was yet again falling for a "bad boy". And that thought stopped her dead.

"Falling for?" she whispered quietly. "What the Hell, girl?"She shook her head. He was good looking, yes. He was built nicely, fact. He was smart **and** a smart ass, true. And she was catching glimpses of more under that cold exterior and it was **that** which was beginning to affect her.

She blew out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"That was a deep sigh," came Nick's low and quiet voice from behind her.

Rochelle closed her eyes tight for a moment. "Yeah." She felt him move closer to her, almost but not quite touching her. Already she felt that almost electric tingling on her skin that she was beginning to associate with his presence.

They stood there in silence for a few moments, each weighing what to say.

"I'm sorry-," Nick began.

"I'm sorry-," Rochelle started at the same moment. They both laughed and Rochelle turned around to face him.

"You first," Nick said, smiling at her.

Rochelle took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier. You were right. I didn't think things through. It's just that I saw Ellis and knew neither your nor Coach would be able to help him. I figured he was so close-what could happen between where I was and where he was? Obviously, the answer is a lot."

Nick shook his head. "No. You did what I would've done if the positions had been reversed. And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have flipped out on you like I did. And-," Nick paused for a moment. "And I shouldn't have forced myself on you." This last he said quietly.

Rochelle frowned, "'Forced' yourself? What are you talking about? Falling on me because the boat lurched was hardly 'forcing' yourself on me!"

Nick sighed in exasperation. "That's not what I was talking about. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. It was wrong." Nick looked out over the expanse of water as he said it, his jaw clenched.

Rochelle weighed her options. This could be the deciding point right here-right now. Her reply could halt, stall, or push what was obviously beginning to happen and she knew it. Again, she thought back to her mother's words; "Bad boys are just good boys who've been hurt."

"Oh," she breathed quietly. "Then you didn't mean anything by it?" She turned away to look out across the water again.

Nick turned to look at her, confusion on his face. "What? Wait-Rochelle-,  
he turned her gently to face him.

She looked up at him expectantly, and when he seemed at a loss for words, she took her chance. "You said you didn't know what you'd do if something happened to me. You didn't mean that?"

"No! I mean yes-I meant it!" Nick was annoyed with himself. He was always smooth as silk with the ladies. Why was this one, small woman throwing him into such a whirlwind?

Rochelle stepped closer to him, holding him with her eyes. "That kiss...I thought it meant something. Now you're telling me you shouldn't have kissed me?"

"Rochelle, it's not like that. I didn't mean to say that. **Did** I say that?" Nick was sure he hadn't.

She put her hands on his shoulders and reached up on her tiptoes, her eyes never leaving his. "Because it meant something to me," she whispered just before her mouth brushed lightly against his.

It was over before Nick could even react and she disappeared below deck before he could say or do anything.

"Dammit!" he cursed softly. That was the second time she'd kissed him and run! But at least now he knew for certain where he stood. And for the first time in a long time, Nick smiled-**really** smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Bright and early the next morning, Virgil docked just long enough to let them off at the edge of New Orleans' Waterfront Market.

"You folks take care now. Good luck," he said, shaking their hands.

"Thank you...thank you so much for everything you've done for us," Rochelle said for the group.

"Where ya headed?" Ellis asked.

"I'm gonna see if I can't find some other folks who could use some help," he replied.

"God bless you, Brother. Be safe," Coach said as the boat pulled away, leaving them standing there, taking in the scene.

"There's the bridge," Nick pointed in the distance. "Guess we should get a move on."

They made their way up the ramp from the dock and found themselves on a narrow street that was blocked at both ends. The only way through was an alleyway between a row of boarded up businesses. There were a few infected stumbling around that were easy to pick off and they looked out onto the small street off the alley.

"This place looks more deserted than the mall," Ellis observed. "Hell, there aren't even many infected.

Is that a good sign or a bad one?" Rochelle asked.

"Both," Nick replied.

"What's that noise?" Coach asked and they immediately went quiet.

Cocking his head, Ellis was the first to answer. "I think it's a plane-maybe a jet fighter."

"That means the military is still here. That's a good sign!" Coach said excitedly. "Let's get a move on."

They pushed their way to the end of the street and turned right, past-of all things-a voodoo shop. They made their way through a back alley and then, as more infected than they could comfortably handle started to swarm, they ducked into the kitchen of a restaurant in order to funnel the infected through and take them out. They went through the restaurant and headed out the front into another street when a jockey came out of nowhere and pounced on Coach. Ellis quickly shot it and Coach wasn't hurt, but he leaned against an abandoned car to catch his breath and set its alarm off.

"Shit!" Nick exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"There's a safe house just down there!" Rochelle called and they ran as fast as they could.

The alarm seemed to draw a hundred infected but most were coming at them from the other side of a barrier just by the door to the safe house. They were slowed by it because they had to climb over it which gave the group the time they needed to get in and shut the heavily fortified door.

"Whew! That was close!" Ellis said, leaning against the counter and looking around the room.

They were in a small convenience store that had been pretty much cleaned out. Nick walked all the way to the back and found some ammo and even a few pipe bombs. "Load up, guys. We'll give them some time to settle down and then we can head out."

It only took about half an hour for the infected to stop clawing at the door. Nick opened it and threw one of the pipe bombs they'd found and it did a good job of clearing most of them out. The few remaining were stunned from the blast and easy to pick off. They left through a different door that opened up on the other side of the barrier and wound up at the bottom of a set of steps heading into a park. There were an abandoned Humvee and police car there, which didn't engender much optimism in them.

"Looks like they went through the park, so I guess that's where we have to head," Coach observed.

"Well, that should be fun," Nick commented dryly. "Lots of cover for them and none for us."

"Guess that can't be helped. Let's move as fast as we can, okay?" Rochelle said, heading up the steps.

They crossed down into the park and found a spitter waiting for them. Ellis dispatched of it quickly and they moved forward. There was a hedge maze they had to move through carefully. The four were on top of their game-pickling off infected before they got too close-and made it to the other side of the park and another narrow alley through which they went. This led out under a highway overpass that looked as though an earthquake had hit. A large section of the road had given way and a tractor trailer was hanging down from it, still sparking randomly. The ground was littered with sleeping bags and makeshift campsites through which they picked their way, stopping to pick up discarded supplies on the way. Rochelle was the first to see the CEDA truck.

"Look! At the end over there! Isn't that a quarantine truck?"

"I think so," Coach replied. "And I think I see a holding area with military tents. Let's check it out."

As they got closer, with relatively few infected to deal with, they saw the bodies. There were piles of them, all outside of the safety fencing and around the CEDA van. They slowed as they approached the area and looked at each other uneasily. None had seen so many bodies piled up in their travels.

Nick moved forward towards the van and examined the bodies more closely. What he discovered, chilled them to the bone.

"These aren't infected-they're people." He paused and looked at the other piles before looking up at the rest of the group. "Jesus Christ, they were shooting **people**!"

The four stood there in silence, not knowing what to do or say. Rochelle stepped forward next to Nick and looked at the bodies. She looked back up at him. "But why?"

"Maybe they were infected but hadn't turned yet?" Ellis offered without much enthusiasm.

"I don't think so," Nick scoffed. "It's pretty convenient that they post 'No Weapons' signs all around. No one is able to fight back when they execute them!"

"What do we do now?" Rochelle asked, worry in her voice.

"We go forward. There's no one here and we can't go back," Coach decided.

Rochelle looked at Nick, concerned. Coach and Ellis moved towards the open CEDA van and Nick took her hand. "Coach is right. Let's go."

They entered the van and shut the door, safe for a moment. There were three adrenaline shots and a med kit left behind which the group divided amongst themselves. They looked out the other door of the can at what appeared to be a waiting line made up of chain link fencing leading towards a bus station where this evac station had once been before apparently getting overrun.

"'Alarm will sound if perimeter is breached'," Ellis read a sign on the fence.

"Great. What if it's still activated?" Rochelle asked.

"I'm sure it will be. Nothing is ever easy for us," Nick replied.

"There goes another jet," Ellis remarked.

"Still a good sign," Coach said. "It means the military is still holding out."

"But for how long? Every place we've been to has been overrun," Rochelle said pessimistically.

"Don't matter much now, does it?" Coach sighed heavily. "Well, what's the plan? Anyone have a guess where the switch for the alarm is?"

"I'll bet it's on top of that scaffolding," Ellis replied, pointing up at what looked like a makeshift tower.

"Well, when that alarm goes off, we need to stick together and make it to that alarm and turn it off," Nick responded. switching his rifle for a machete he'd picked up along the way.

"True. Stick together. This is going to get messy," Coach agreed.

"Okay. I'm opening the door," Ellis said. They waited in anticipation of the alarm. "Huh! Guess it's not on!" he said cheerfully as he stepped down out of the van. The minute his foot touched the ground, the alarm siren went off.

"Shit! Let's go!" Nick yelled and the four took off. They made it down the entire length of the repurposed parking lot only to see the maze of fences double back the way they had come. They made the ninety-degree turn and ran back up the new lane towards the CEDA van, watching for infected. They weren't waiting for long.

The first infected were climbing the fence with ease, scrambling to reach the survivors. Ellis pulled out his AK-47 and sprayed them with bullets as he ran. As Rochelle neared the next turn, she took swipes at infected with her baseball bat. The sounds it made when connecting to heads were sickening, as was the gore that spattered each time. She got semi-surrounded and couldn't keep them all off and felt their clawing hands raking at her body. She yelled out and before anything worse could happen, Nick was there with his machete, cutting through them all.

"You okay?" he asked, breathing heavily and wiping sweat out of his eyes.

"Yeah...just a few scratches," Rochelle replied. "Thanks."

They continued their run, now turning left to double back yet again, but this time the lane took them under the platform where the controls for the alarm were hopefully located. Coach was lagging behind a bit but Ellis was hanging back to help. More and more infected were flocking to the alarm-more than they might be able to handle.

"Rochelle! Go! Get the alarm! I'll cover you!" Nick urged.

She sprinted forward to the ladder leading up to the top of the platform. With one final swipe at infected on the ground, she stashed her bat in the makeshift holder she carried it in on her back and started to climb, trusting Nick to pick off the infected climbing after her.

She got to the top and a clear run straight toward a control panel. She found and threw a large switch that controlled all the power to the platform and the blaring siren silenced to be replaced by the howling and snarls of the infected that were still driven mad by the sound. At her feet lie a discarded carbine that she grabbed and began using to wipe out those infected heading for her friends.

Coach was the first to appear up on the platform followed closely by Ellis. When Rochelle saw Nick gain the top, she turned her attention to the end she was on, emptying the carbine and then dropping it and switching to her bat, swinging and knocking the infected climbing up the platform at her end. They would be able to hold out up there until the horde dissipated...as long as their ammo held out. Thankfully, there was a pile up there that fit most of their weapons.

It happened so quickly, no one had a chance to react. They never heard the tell-tale coughing that heralded a smoker. One minute Nick was there and the next, he simply wasn't. He yelled once, but the smoker's tongue cut off any further communication. Rochelle turned to see Coach spinning around and taking aim below them. Rochelle looked down and saw Nick being pummeled by the smoker, surrounded by infected. Without stopping to think about anything other than him, she dropped down into the midst of the horde encircling him.

The cloud of smoke that appeared assured her Coach had dispatched the smoker, but Nick was still on the ground surrounded by clawing, stamping infected. Rochelle grabbed her baseball bat and started swinging with all her might, clearing them away. More replaced them but she was able to move close to Nick who was trying to pick himself up. Ellis added his AK to the mix and soon they were clear enough to move closer to the platform.

"Are you alright?!" Rochelle asked, trying to spare a glance at Nick.

He nodded his head, throat too sore to speak loudly enough over the constant roar of infected. They stood there side by side for what seemed like hours but what was in reality only about five minutes, loading, shooting, and reloading their guns or swinging their melee weapons until the last lone infected fell. Rochelle finally looked at Nick.

"You're hurt," she said, seeing bloody scratches on his arm.

"It's not bad," he replied hoarsely.

"Let's get to the cover of the bus station. I'll patch you up there," she replied as they were joined on the ground by Coach and Ellis.

"Agreed," Ellis said, leading the way.

They got inside and Nick sat for a moment on the bench to allow Rochelle to quickly dress his wounds. She was quick and thorough, but concerned. "We need to change your dressing from the witch attack when we get to the next safe house. These bandages are filthy," she observed.

"Yes, Doctor," Nick replied, joking with her.

Rochelle eyed him as she put her supplies away. "Joke all you want, but don't come crying to me when you can't keep up with us and we leave your ass behind." She looked at him then and something made her lean over and give him a quick, light kiss on the cheek to soften her words. He turned to catch her mouth with his but she was too fast for him and he got nothing but air.

"If you two are done playing doctor, maybe we can get a move on?" Coach grouched.

Nick laughed and stood up. The four of them made their way out into the bus parking lot and came around the corner to find a bunker built into the base of the freeway ramp they were near. They made it inside with only a few infected coming after them and were able to rest for a bit.

"Here. Sit up on this table so I can look at those bandages," Rochelle commanded Nick.

"Stop being such a worrywort! I'm fine," he replied, but obliged her. He slid his jacket off and began unbuttoning his shirt. He winked at her devilishly but she only pursed her lip and raised her eyebrow at him. Shirt off and to the side, Rochelle gently undid her handiwork and threw the soiled bandages away.

The witch's claw marks **were** looking better. They no longer oozed and where they were shallowest, they were already scabbing over. Rochelle gently traced her fingers down the marks, looking for any issues, but also very aware of the tightness of Nick's chest and abdomen. For a brief moment she allowed herself the mental image of trailing kisses down his body and immediately felt her face flame hot.

Nick was dealing with his own struggle, however, and never noticed Rochelle's embarrassment. Her light ministrations as she changed his bandage were driving him to distraction. Although she was strictly business while tending to him, she was putting thoughts into his head that he was having a hard time controlling. He wasn't sure when she'd started affecting him like this, he just knew he was wading into treacherous waters. Her strength, determination, and fierce loyalty to the group who had been strangers just weeks ago, really surprised him...and he had to admit, excited more tender side of her that he caught glimpses of in those rare times when she let down her guard or, like now, as she worked to take care of him, added to that excitement. And that was fueling a growing desire for her like he'd had for no other woman.

What Nick found hard to understand was the depth of the feelings he was experiencing. He'd never really been emotionally attached to any woman except maybe Diana...and even that feeling hadn't lasted very long. He's wanted plenty of women-had most of them-but had never really experienced what he was with Rochelle. This was different. She was smart, gutsy, **and** sexy, all with an air of still being a lady. It was endearing when she refused to swear. The closest he'd heard her say was, "Son of a bee sting!" Yet she had no qualms about shooting infected...had even become a bit of a "Dead-Eye Dick" with that hunting rifle of hers, picking off infected with one shot from yards away. And there was something else about her that was making it increasingly difficult for Nick to resist taking her and kissing her like he wanted to...other than the fact that there was no privacy, of course.

As Rochelle finished and stood back to make sure everything was as it should be, Nick reached out and took her hand. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised quizzically and before he was sure what he was going to say, he said, "Thanks, Ro...for caring."

Ro. He'd called her Ro. The only other person to use that version of her name (other than her father and Coach...again, a father figure) was Malik. She felt a rush go through her stomach and tighten her chest a bit, even though she tried to squash the silly feeling. This was Nick. He didn't mean anything by it...right?

She swallowed and replied, "Of course. Can't have you dying on us. Four people are better than three." She smiled lightly to take the sting out of her words and he laughed, too.

"Well, looks like we have to head out under the highway and through a small section of the edge of town in order to keep going. I'm thinking there's got to be a ladder access up to the road from one of these supporting sections. What ch'all think?" Coach asked as Nick buttoned his shirt back up.

"Sounds like a plan. We can always come back down if it's a bad idea," Rochelle answered.

"Let's push on now. Hopefully we can get to the bridge before nightfall," Nick added.

They stocked up on more ammo and Rochelle found a machete with a decent blade that she replaced her baseball bat with. Then they pushed open the door and stepped out under the highway.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

The first thing they saw, other than a few infected, was the remains of what looked like some campsites. There were sleeping bags and small, bunker-like set-ups scattered round...all empty. They made their way to the edge of the buildings and saw a good-size fire still burning.

"Well, that's a good sign," Ellis said optimistically. "Maybe we're just behind the evac lines."

Nick looked more closely at the fire as they moved into the small outlying area of the town. "Or maybe CEDA didn't finish burning the evidence before they pulled out of here," he mumbled only so Rochelle heard.

They could still hear the sound of jet fighters in the distance every once in a while and it gave them hope enough to keep pushing. They climbed the stairs of a building and crossed over the upper porch and back down on the roof of a bus in order to get over the makeshift barricade. They were stepping over and around more bodies now, mostly infected, and had to dispatch a small group of fifteen or so that appeared from behind a trailer. They heard the scream of a hunter but Ellis saw and shot it before it made its move. They continued fighting their way through several more holdouts of infected as they worked their way back towards the highway that they had been forced to abandon because of various barricades. As they came out of a house that looked as though it was directly against the highway, they found themselves at a dead end of sorts, hemmed in by fencing too high to get over in order to continue their way under the highway.

"Dammit! Now what?" Nick swore in frustration.

Ellis wandered a few feet away and Coach and Rochelle leaned against a camper, catching their breaths.

"Hey, guys? I think we can go down in the sewer here; the manhole cover is off. It probably comes back up past those buildings on the other side of the barricade.

"Not another sewer!" Nick complained.

"You've got to be kidding," Rochelle added. Sewers were the worst. Not only were they filled with sewage, obviously, but they were also pitch black, filled with infected, and nearly impossible to come out of unscathed. There was no way to keep a wall to one side of you, leaving you completely exposed. It made Rochelle feel worse than naked.

"Well, unless you want to backtrack all the way through or can fly over this fence, I think this is the only way," Ellis replied.

Nick heaved a huge sigh. "I just want it known I'm doing this under total protest!"

"Duly noted," Coach said as he pushed himself off the camper and walked towards the manhole.

They dropped down quickly together and found themselves in a tight tunnel with only one way to head. The sickening crunch of breaking bones echoed loudly as they crossed over the many bodies littering the passage.

"Poor bastards," Nick muttered under his breath.

They quickly came to the main junction of the sewer and shone their lights as far as they'd go. Glittering eyes caught their lights and they brought their guns to bear.

"Let's move," Coach said, stepping into the open first. "Look for surface access!"

"This is disgusting! It reeks down here!" Nick complained, scanning the area.

"Ow!" Rochelle yelled and swung her gun into the head of the infected that had clawed at her.

"There!" Ellis called, pointing with his light at a yellow ladder a few yards away.

"Let's go!" Nick yelled, swinging his machete at the infected that were beginning to surround them.

Ellis climbed quickly first, followed by Rochelle. A hand reached for her foot but Nick was there and it released its hold abruptly. When she got up top she heard Ellis curse. 

"This is going to be difficult," he told her.

Rochelle looked at her surroundings as Coach came up next. They were in some kind of junkyard/impound lot and were surrounded by cars, many of which were blinking with alarms. There were quite a few infected scattered throughout and one or two were making their way to them, but at least they were back underneath the highway.

"Dammit! Be careful where you shoot!" Nick said as he climbed up next to the others. "Maybe we should switch to melee weapons."

"Good idea," Coach replied, pulling out an axe he'd picked up a week ago.

Four infected charged them and were dispatched quickly. They made their way towards the open end of the lot and saw the ladder heading up to the highway above them. Ellis led the way, knowing which cars were alarmed or not, and they picked their way over the cars.

"Does anyone still smell sewer? I swear I do! It's inside my head!" Nick complained.

Ellis turned to reply and in that moment, a jockey appeared out of nowhere and launched itself at him.

"Shit!" Nick exclaimed and reached for his gun. Before anyone could get a shot off, however, the jockey steered Ellis right into an alarmed car and all Hell broke loose.

The sound of the alarm drove the infected crazy. They started swarming from every which way. They came from the sewer, the lot, over the fences, down the ladder from the highway...**everywhere**. Nick nailed the jockey in the head and Ellis was immediately swarmed by infected.

"Dammit!" Coach swore and ran to Ellis' side, pumping his shotgun as he ran.

Rochelle was able to get her back to a highway pillar, but she was having trouble herself. She was getting hit more often than not and couldn't keep up with them. She heard the disgusting sound a boomer makes as it pukes a split second before she was hit. She was blinded, but she kept swinging the machete at the shapes surrounding her. More hits came in and she cried out in fear. Panic began to set in and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She turned to push an infected away and slipped to one knee. This was it, then. This was how she was going to die, covered in boomer bile and set upon by a horde of infected. She cried out again and then the attacking horde was off of her and she could hear Nick say, "I'm here, Ro. I've got you."

It probably only lasted two or three minutes from the time the alarm went off to the time it stopped and the last of the infected were dispatched, but it felt like an eternity. Rochelle wiped the bile off her face and tried to stand, but she was shaking too much and slipped again. Nick knelt next to her, his hands steadying her.

"Whoa there, Sweetheart. Take it easy. Are you hurt?" he asked, concern showing in his eyes.

Rochelle turned and, of all things, started to cry. The stress of the situation had left her feeling weak and drained. The tears came unbidden and she was shocked as a sob escaped her mouth. It was all simply too much.

Nick became more alarmed, looking at her, searching desperately for any serious wounds. He saw scratches and fresh bruises, but nothing deeper or more dangerous than that.

"Rochelle! Are you hurt? Tell me!" he insisted, turning her to face him.

She managed to shake her head no but still couldn't control the tears. "I-I'm being-stu-stupid!" she sobbed out, trying to pull away from Nick in embarrassment. She didn't want him to see her so weak. Dammit! What was wrong with her?! But instead of letting her pull away, Nick pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She resisted for half a second and then gave in, laying her head on his chest. His arms felt so comforting and the beat of his heart soothed her. He stroked her hair and his voice as he said, "Shhh, Ro. It's okay," calmed her.

As her sobs and tears subsided, she reluctantly pulled away, wiping her eyes and looking down, a little embarrassed by her display. "I'm sorry, Nick. I don't know what happened. I'm not a crier."

"You were terrified. Being in a situation like that...chalk it up to the relief you felt when you came out okay," he replied, helping her to stand.

She nodded, getting herself back together. "I thought it was over," she half-laughed.

Nick had bent to pick up her machete and straightened up, pinning her with a look that stopped her in her tracks.

"I will **never** allow that to happen. I promise you that," he said softly.

Rochelle's stomach tightened and she felt her heart speed up. He handed her the weapon and then went to where Coach and Ellis were. She stood there for a moment, wondering just what was happening between them. It definitely felt like it was turning into more than she had originally thought...much more.

They climbed the ladder and steps up to the highway and breathed a sigh of relief. For once, there were no infected in sight. There was even an ambulance right there with enough supplies left to re-stock their own dwindling ones. Nick found ammunition and a few guns as well and changed his sniper rifle for an automatic shotgun since he could find no ammunition for his weapon in the pile.

"Well, there's a whole lotta cars in our way, but it looks like we can make our way right into New Orleans' center this way," Coach said optimistically. He started off down the road in the direction they were headed and the others began to follow suit when they heard the roar of a fighter jet heading from somewhere to the west. The next thing they knew, they were thrown to the ground by the force of the massive explosion from the bomb that hit the highway just ahead of them.

"What the Hell?!" Ellis exclaimed, picking himself up.

Nick went to Coach who was just sitting up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Coach groused, taking Nick's hand and pulling himself up.

"Why are they bombing?" Rochelle asked as they heard a few more explosions in the distance.

"They're getting ready to pull out. Looks like they've decided to 'clean up' the city as much as they can," Nick replied. "We need to get a move on."

"We've got a problem," Ellis observed.

"What now?" Nick asked.

"See for yourself," he pointed.

The raised roadway had suffered a direct hit from the blast. A smoking, jagged hole had appeared in the concrete, effectively separating it in two parts with no way possible to get over or around it to the other side.

Nick sighed. "Looks like we go back down."

Rochelle went to the edge and looked down. "You have **got** to be kidding me," she said.

"What?" Coach asked, moving to her side.

Ellis whistled low and long and Nick came to stand near them as well.

"Well, at least it's not dark out," Ellis said, trying to lighten the mood.

They were looking down at one of New Orleans' largest cemeteries. Tombs stretched as far as the eye could see. Many were falling apart from lack of care. They would have to make their way through it to the other end at the edge of the French Quarter.

"A zombie-filled cemetery. What is this, a friggin' joke?" Nick asked no one in particular.

"Let's go," Coach sighed resignedly.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

As they picked their way through the nightmarish landscape of the cemetery, they heard the sounds of occasional bombing in the distance. It seemed it was mostly in the outer wards which gave them renewed hope. If they were bombing the French Quarter, that meant the evac was over and they were pulling completely out. Rochelle didn't want to think about what that would mean for their group. As creepy as this trek was, there weren't many infected, which made sense. How many people would be this close to the cemetery when they were infected? They were able to make it through the cemetery with surprisingly few issues and as they came out the other side, they found themselves on Basin Street, just outside of the French Quarter.

"Looks like a safe house over there," Ellis pointed out, just to the right of the entrance to the cemetery.

"That's good timing. I sure need a rest," Coach said, limping a little towards safety.

As they made their way to the store that was serving as a safe house, Rochelle moved closer to Nick and slowed up a little in order for them to talk quietly without being overheard.

"I'm worried about Coach," she said, once they were back far enough.

Nick looked at Coach for a few seconds and turned to Rochelle as they walked. "You mean his limp?"

She nodded. "I know he already had a bum knee before all of this started, but I feel like it's getting worse."

"Not much we can do for him except give him some pain pills. If we don't get to the evac station, maybe we can find some ice somewhere, but that's about it. He needs to rest it: not something we've really had time for lately," Nick observed.

"I know. Maybe we can keep an eye on him and try and watch our pace if we can?" Rochelle asked.

Nick nodded and then took one last look around them before entering the store. It turned out that there was a back room that was the actual safe house. After a quick search of the outer area that turned up a few more medical supplies and some cans of soup that had rolled under a counter, they locked themselves in and sat down. Ellis pulled out the buck knife he'd had with him from the start and was able to pry open the cans well enough for the group to tip the contents out to eat.

"I never thought tomato soup could taste so good," Coach remarked.

"Makes me want spaghetti now," Ellis replied.

"When this is all over, I'll have you over for dinner. I make a mean pot of sauce," Rochelle said smiling.

Nick snorted, his head back against the wall he was leaning against. "You cook?"

Rochelle looked insulted. "Yes, I cook!" When Nick smiled she added, "What? You think I can't?"

"Well, you're not Italian so I don't know about your claim of making a great 'sauce'." Here, Nick used air quotes.

"First off, I **can** cook and second off, how do you know I'm not Italian?" she snapped back, eyebrow raised.

Coach whistled long and low. "Careful there, Nick," he chuckled.

Nick sat up straight. "Simple. You said you make 'sauce'. No self-respecting Italian would call it anything but 'gravy'," he laughed.

Everyone laughed at that and Rochelle replied, "So I guess **you** can make 'gravy'?"

"Sweetheart, not only can I make gravy, I can make a risotto that will knock your socks off and a tiramisu that will leave you begging for more," Nick said, smiling devilishly.

Ellis and Coach burst into laughter and Rochelle cocked her hip and jammed her hand down on her waist, unimpressed. "Is **that** what women beg you for?"

Ellis choked on his laughs at that and Coach laughed even harder.

"Yes. And when we finally get out of here, I'll show you just what else women beg me for," Nick replied, winking wickedly at her.

All eyes turned to Rochelle for her response. She didn't disappoint. "Honey, I don't beg for anything. I **take** what I want."

Wolf whistles and cat calls erupted from Coach and Ellis while Nick's smile grew broader. "Challenge accepted."

Coach, still chuckling, stood up and looked out of the other door that led outside into a courtyard. "Looks like we can head this way when y'all are done flirting."

The others stood up and moved behind Coach. He raised his rifle and picked off the few infected in sight and then looked back at his group: his family. "Ready?"

Everyone nodded and he opened the door.

It happened so quickly that no one had a chance to think much less react. One minute they had stepped out onto the porch and the next they were suddenly diving for cover as the bombing continued with a near direct hit. The four threw themselves every which way, covering their heads as debris rained down on them. The first to his feet was Ellis, who immediately looked to Rochelle who was slowly sitting up.

"You okay?" he called.

She nodded her head and looked to the others who were both shakily standing up. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, no thanks to the military," Coach mumbled.

Nick wiped a trickle of blood from his forehead where he had a light cut. "Great… I'm gonna sue them if I get a scar!"

"Looks like the bombing is stirring the infected up," Ellis observed, bringing his gun up as a small horde came charging through the doorway on the other side of the courtyard.

They immediately formed up, backs to each other, and dispatched of the twenty or so infected that came at them. Then, as they wrapped up, yet another explosion hit just a few blocks away, followed by two more off farther in the distance.

"Stop bombing us!" Ellis yelled to no one in particular out of frustration.

"Come on-let's get going," Nick urged, taking the lead.

They made their way across the courtyard and into the remains of another store. Windows and doors were heavily boarded up so they went up to the second floor where they could see light coming from somewhere. Reaching the second floor they found French doors opened onto a balcony and they made their way outside and to the remains of what was Bourbon Street. The boarded up bars and jazz clubs gave an eerie feeling to a place that was never closed. Infected wandered below them and, as they watched, two fought each other on a nearby balcony. When the one fell off, the other chased after, breaking both of its legs with a sickening crunch.

Ellis swallowed hard. "Anyone else feeling more freaked out than usual?"

"C'mon, Kid. We're almost outta here. Now's not the time to lose it," Nick said, reloading his shotgun.

"He's right, Son. Let's get a move on," Coach added. The two older men leapt across to the next balcony leaving Rochelle and Ellis to jump next.

"Hey," Rochelle smiled at Ellis, grabbing his shoulder lightly. "Kill all sons of bitches, right?" she quoted his words from weeks ago when they first began this crazy journey.

Ellis smiled and nodded, taking a deep breath in the process. "Right!"

Rochelle jumped across the balconies and turned to wait for Ellis. In that moment, the tell-tale scream of a smoker throwing its tongue out broke the relative silence of the late afternoon. Rochelle watched as Ellis' eyes widened in surprise as he was pulled off the balcony and dragged across the street below to a balcony across the way. It all happened so quickly, no one had time to react at first. The three turned to help when the scream of a charger rent the air. Nick was already on the roof of a van headed to where Ellis was dangling and spun to see the charger come out of the door they'd recently come from on the balcony. It flew at Rochelle who was able to leap out of its way in time and Coach turned and dispatched it with three shots as it tried to regroup.

Assured of Rochelle's safety for the moment, Nick continued to Ellis. From his angle on the street he was finally able to see the smoker and nailed it in one clean shot. It released Ellis who fell several feet to the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

Rochelle had, in the meantime, managed to get down on the street near Ellis and ran to him. "Sweetie! Are you okay?" she asked, concern flooding her voice.

Ellis was still unable to talk, but nodded his head.

"You had me scared for-," Rochelle started, but the screech of a hunter cut her off. She looked up and locked eyes with the creature crawling towards her. She reached behind her for her gun but knew she'd be too late. It crouched in preparation to pounce.

"Hey, you ugly bastard!" Nick yelled from behind Rochelle.

Rochelle threw herself over Ellis as the hunter launched itself at them. It sailed over their heads and descended on Nick with a growl.

Rochelle spun immediately around and, with one shot, nailed it in the back of the head.

"Well, Goddamn, Annie Oakley!" Ellis rasped out, slowly getting to his feet.

Rochelle ran to Nick who was pushing the dead hunter off of him. "What the hell did you think you were doing?!" she yelled at Nick once she realized he wasn't hurt.

He looked at her in surprise at her tone. "Trying to save you!"

She stood looking down at him, anger welling up inside of her. "If trying to save me means trying to get yourself killed, don't do it again!"

"You want me to sit back and watch you get hurt?!" Nick exclaimed.

"I don't want you to die trying to save me! What do you think that would do to me?! If you die, it's going to kill me any way, so don't try a stunt like that again!" Rochelle snapped her mouth shut after that revelation and turned on her heel and went to stand by Coach, who was helping Ellis up. She therefore didn't see the slow smile that spread across Nick's face as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Everyone okay after that mess?" Coach asked. When everyone nodded, he continued. "Looks like we head this way." He motioned to their right. Both ends of the two blocks they were on were blocked by high fences, but at the one end was a sign pointing towards a jazz club as a "holding station". They made their way to the corner and ducked into the club.

It was dark due to the windows being boarded up and they found more infected wandering aimlessly amidst overturned tables and chairs. One stood by an upright piano on a small stage, constantly picking up and dropping its hand on the same few keys until Rochelle shot it. They could still hear bombing in the distance as they made their way upstairs to the pool hall above the club.

"Man, I love playing pool!" Ellis said as they maneuvered around the many tables, picking off infected as they appeared. "One time, my buddy Keith, well-he saw this downright beautiful girl trying to figure out how to play so he went up to her offered to show her how. Well, he got all excited when she said sure, so he was showing her how to hold the cue stick and all. She asked him how to line the shot up so he leaned over her and put his arms around her to help and she was all flirty with him. They must have played two or three games when she asked him to walk her to her car. Well, me and my other buddies thought Keith was set! But, a few minutes later, he comes back in with this queer look on his face. So I asked what happened? Well, you're not gonna believe this-but it turns out **she** was a **he**! Keith had asked her name and 'she' told him it was Billy and then showed him his hairy chest! We about rolled on the ground laughing! We teased him for months after that!"

Coach heaved a big sigh and Rochelle hid a smile behind a cough.

"Haven't heard a 'Keith' story in a while," Nick observed.

They got to the other end of the pool hall and found themselves at a broken set of stairs. There were plenty of boxes, however, so Coach and Ellis managed to jump to them in order to get down. Just as Rochelle was about to take her turn, a bomb hit too close for comfort. She staggered near the edge until Nick pulled her back to him. Pieces of ceiling rained down on them and Nick pushed Rochelle against the wall, shielding her with his body.

The explosion had only lasted a moment and they hadn't been hurt. Nick had wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him, but now he slowly pulled away, just enough to look at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, her arms still around him. They stood in that embrace for a moment, looking at each other, and Nick felt something inside of him give way. He locked eyes with hers and his hand came to her cheek, brushing away some dirt. His other arm, still wrapped around her waist, tightened and he pulled her closer. His eyes dropped to her mouth and then his lips found hers.

What started as a soft kiss nearly immediately deepened as Rochelle's mouth willingly opened to his. A small moan escaped her mouth, fueling Nick's desire as he pulled her even closer.

Rochelle felt him hard against her and her hands snaked up to the back of his neck, urging him closer. One hand buried itself in his hair, tugging lightly at it. The explosion of feelings coursing through her body were nearly overwhelming.

"You two okay?" Coach called up, unable to see them and worried by their silence.

Nick pulled away from her and hoarsely replied, "Yeah. Just brushing off." He turned back to Rochelle who was leaning against the wall, staring at him. He moved in and kissed her again, lightly on the mouth, and then looked at her. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time," he whispered to her.

"I've been wanting you to do that for a long time!" she said, a smile lighting up her face.

He laughed and said, "I think I'm in a lot of trouble."

They moved back to the top of the stairs and Rochelle hopped down on the broken boxes. Nick joined after and they moved out into the street on the other side of the blockade.

"I think we're getting closer to the river," Nick observed . "We're heading southwest so we should be able to see the water in another two blocks or so."

"You've been here before?" Rochelle asked.

"Yeah-a few times. It's always been a bit sleazy. Not the kind of place for someone like Ellis, that's for sure."

Rochelle laughed at that. "Why?"

"They'd take one look at his country boy face and rob him blind while he was standing in church."

"So I guess you don't like New Orleans much," Rochelle commented.

"Well, I am **not** going to die here, that's for sure."

They turned right off the alleyway they were in and delicately sidestepped a wandering witch. They made their way into the back entrance of a hotel and worked their way up to the third floor and out onto a balcony overlooking yet another courtyard.

"Is that the bridge over there?" Ellis asked, pointing across the courtyard in the near distance.

"I think so!" Coach exclaimed. "It can't be more than three or four blocks!"

"How do we get through this courtyard?" Rochelle asked. ALl the doors and windows were heavily boarded up on the first and second floors, but one house across the way had an open balcony. There was no way to get to that second floor, however. They looked around them, trying to figure out how to do it when Coach saw the float.

"What about that? If there's gas in the tractor, we can start it up and move it to that roof below. We could get across that to the next building."

"It's worth a shot," Rochelle said, taking a long look at the route Coach had described. They jumped down to the roof of the garage below and onto some scaffolding. Several infected were drawn to them and were dispatched.

"That tractor is gonna make a lot of noise when it starts up. I imagine we're in for a whole lot of company," Coach observed.

"Who's gonna go start it?" Ellis asked.

"I will," Rochelle replied.

"Wait a minute-," Nick started but she cut him off.

"I'm the smallest and fastest. I'll be down and back before you can count to ten. Besides, you guys can stay here and cover me," Rochelle insisted. "You're a better shot than me anyhow," she continued.

Nick frowned. "I don't like this."

"You don't have to. Just watch my back," Rochelle said. She kissed him quickly and before he could reply or kiss her in return, she was down below and running to the tractor.

"Damn infuriating woman!" he cursed and Coach smiled.

They covered her as she ran to the tractor and started it up. It slowly began moving towards the balcony across the way. It would hit the building next door and more than likely stop, spinning its wheels in place long enough for them to get across.

Rochelle made sure it was rolling in the right direction and then she ran like the wind across the courtyard to steps leading up to the balconies. Infected began swarming up over fences and out through doors and windows, drawn by the sound of the tractor. As she ran across the balconies, Nick's eyes never left her. He traced her progress, making sure no infected ever got too close to her. He was uneasy with her so far from him; anything could happen in that distance. But nothing did and she was soon back next to him. They were quickly surrounded by infected but most were forced to climb to them so it made it easier to pick them off. Within minutes of it starting up, the tractor was in place and the four of them launched themselves across the float and onto the balcony on the other side of the courtyard.

"Where are we now?" Coach asked, breathless from the fighting.

"Down the stairs and let's see if we can get out of the front of the house," Nick replied. "That should take us farther to the south."

Ellis moved back from the doorway where he'd been picking off infected and motioned to the corner of the room. "There's a pipe bomb over there. Someone should grab it. I'm pretty loaded down with stuff."

Coach grabbed it. "Good eyes, Son."

The four made their way down the stairs. They came to a back alley through which they made their way into the back of a store. It was there that they found more ammo. Restocking their supplies, Nick took a step outside onto the street. There were infected everywhere. It looked as though the virus had suddenly hit New Orleans in the middle of Mardi Gras.

"Coach-gimme your pipe bomb, will ya?" he asked. Coach passed it to him and everyone gathered round. "We ready?" As everyone nodded, Nick used his thumb to flip the cover over the arming switch and pushed the button. The tell-tale beeping started and he cocked his arm back to throw. Several infected had immediately turned upon hearing the noise. Before they could move towards them, though, Nick released the pipe bomb and watched as it sailed over so many heads. There was a brief pause and then what seemed like hundreds of infected swarmed around the flashing, beeping device. They tried stomping on it to make it stop, but to no avail. It didn't stop until the explosion that sent legs, arms, and torsos flying everywhere.

"Ugh! No matter how many times I see that happen, it's still horrible," Rochelle remarked.

They brought their guns up and began picking their way down the narrow street. As they got nearer to the end, Ellis turned to make a remark.

"Hey! Look at the name of this place! 'Gator's Speakeasy'. Sounds like a-"

But he was cut off when a massive explosion ripped through the building to their right, as yet another bomber flew overhead. All four staggered to the left and Nick went down on one knee.

"God dammit!" he cursed in frustration at no one in particular.

"Stop bombing us!" Coach yelled as well.

"You're bleeding, Nick," Rochelle observed, coming to him.

He stood up and looked at his hand where he felt a trickle of blood. "It's nothing. Just a scratch. No thanks to the military!"

Rochelle took his hand in hers and quickly wiped the blood from the cut with an alcohol pad from her med kit, assuring herself it was indeed just a minor cut.

Nick looked at her in bemusement and cocked an eyebrow. "Do I meet your approval?"

Rochelle threw her med kit over her shoulder and handed him the machete he'd dropped. "You're getting there," she quipped.

"Let's go. We can head through the bar. I want to get to that damn bridge," Coach said.

They made their way into the bar and found the back doors blocked.

"Let's try the stairs," Rochelle said.

They climbed quickly to the apartments above and made their way through encountering only a few infected and a spitter that was quickly killed.

"I don't see steps down, but we could jump across to the balcony over there. It's not that far. From there we can jump down to that generator and then the ground," Ellis offered.

They looked at the jump he was talking about, and Nick leaned in to Coach. "You think you can handle it?"

Coach nodded. "Yeah. It doesn't look too far. Just hope my knee holds out when I land."

Ellis had already jumped and was waiting for the others, taking aim at a few infected he could spot down below. "It wasn't bad," he called over. "I'll cover y'all as you come."

Nick motioned for Rochelle to go next. She leapt over with her gun in her hands and made it safe to the other side. "It really isn't bad," she repeated.

"You next, Coach," Nick urged.

Sighing heavily, he tossed his gun across to Ellis and backed up a few steps. Taking a running leap, he made it across, wincing slightly as he landed, but with no real issue. Before he could turn to check on Nick, he was next to him as well.

"You okay?" he asked and Coach nodded.

Ellis had jumped down to the ground and turned to call up. "Hey! I see the highway ramp to the bridge. We're only about two hundred yards away!"

"Thank Christ!" Nick commented, as they all joined Ellis on the ground.

Rochelle wiped the sweat out of her eyes and then looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. We're losing daylight quick."

"Let's get to the bridge and see where we are from there," Coach said.

They worked their way down the narrow back alleyway. There were more explosions, but they were farther off. It gave them hope that the military wasn't pulling out right away. If they missed yet another evacuation chance…

They came out of the alley into a CEDA dead end. They were under the ramp leading up to the bridge, but there were a few abandoned cars and an overturned bus there. Nick jogged under the overpass and looked down past the bus.

"Hey! I see a safe house in the base of the bridge. Let's go!"

The rest picked up the pace and joined him. "Shh! I hear a witch!" Rochelle cautioned. They looked ahead and saw her head as she paced back and forth near the door to the safe house.

"Shit! Do we try taking her out or try edging around her?" Ellis asked.

"She turned back around. Maybe we try sneaking past her?" Coach asked.

"I'll go first," Ellis offered.

"I think we should go in pairs," Rochelle said. "She can't get both at once."

"Makes sense," Coach agreed.

"Go with him, Coach," Nick urged. "We'll come next."

Coach and Ellis eased over some chunks of concrete and headed as far to the left as they could in order to steer clear of the witch. They got to the door of the safe house and Ellis was able to quickly open it and get inside without the witch so much as turning to look at them. Ellis motioned for Nick and Rochelle to make their run and Nick turned to Rochelle.

"You ready, Sweetheart?"

She flashed him a smile. "Yep."

He couldn't help himself. He leaned in and kissed her once, quickly. The look of surprise on her face was worth it.

"Ladies first," he urged.

They made their way towards the safe house, trying to avoid the witch. They were almost to the door when the unmistakable sound of a spitter reached their ears. The spit hit the ground directly in front of the door and forced Rochelle to jump back. Nick brought his gun to bear and picked off the special infected, but in doing so, agitated the witch. She started keening more loudly, interspersing her sobs with angry growls. The spit was taking forever to absorb into the concrete and there was no way they could jump across it. Additionally, more infected were coming from the the way they had come, drawn by the noise of the witch.

"Son of a bitch!" Nick cursed, trying to ease as far away from the witch as possible while grabbing his machete.

The infected were there on top of them and Nick started swinging. Rochelle joined him and then, over the sound of the increasingly agitated witch, Coach yelled, "All's clear! Get inside!"

"Go!" Nick commanded Rochelle. She hesitated for a second but knew she couldn't afford to argue with him. She ran to the safe house and then turned.

"Nick! Now!" she called.

He took one last swipe and turned to run. The witch let out a long howl and launched herself at Nick. He threw himself through the door, headfirst in a dive, and Ellis slammed the door on the witch's face and hands. She screamed again, hands and head trapped, until Coach took one swipe with his axe and took her head off at the shoulders. Ellis opened the door long enough to kick the head like a soccer ball and then slammed and locked the door.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Rochelle dropped next to Nick and helped him sit up. "Are you okay?"

Nick winced as he held his hands, palms out to her. They were scraped and bleeding from where he dove on the concrete. "They hurt like a bitch but I don't think I'll die from it."

Rochelle opened her med kit and fished out some alcohol pads. "What is it with you and witches?"

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "I can't help it. All kinds of women fall for me. You should know that," he replied, winking at her.

Rochelle rolled her eyes and sighed heavily but didn't deny it.

"Besides, I like it when you play nurse. I'm looking forward to when I can play doctor!"

Coach laughed at that and Ellis coughed.

"Ow!" Nick exclaimed as Rochelle wiped his wounds with alcohol. "That burns!"

"Oh stop, you big baby!" Rochelle quipped.

"You did that on purpose!" Nick returned.

"Maybe," she said, smiling wickedly.

"Hey, y'all. I'm gonna climb up that ladder. I think I hear someone talking. I'll check it out," Ellis said.

"Hey-before we go out there-ya think we should talk about this? I mean, before we just walk right into the hands of the people who've been trying to kill us?" Nick asked.

"You're welcome to make yourself a home right in this here room, Nick, but I'm with Ellis on this," Coach said, climbing after Ellis.

Nick sighed and laid his head back against the wall while Rochelle finished cleaning his scrapes.

"Do you really think there's going to be a problem?" Rochelle asked quietly.

"I don't know. I just never like doing something that leaves me no alternative. Once we get to them, there's no backing out. And they don't seem too eager to check on who might still be around and not infected when they do their bombing runs."

Rochelle sat back against the same wall next to Nick. "True. But then again, on our whole way from Savannah to New Orleans, we only ran into four other non-infected people except the pilot...who turned. I'm beginning to get the feeling that we're some of the last people left. How many have been evacuated? How do they know the people they picked up weren't infected and then maybe infected more? How fast does it take from being infected to turning and why haven't we been infected?"

"I've asked myself the same question. This thing spreads so quickly yet we've been spat on, puked on, scratched, hurt, covered in infected blood...nothing. Not so much as a runny nose. I'm beginning to think we're immune," Nick countered quietly.

"Where do you think they're evacuating to?"

Nick shrugged. "My guess is the Keys or carriers somewhere out in the ocean. Infected can't cross deep water it seems."

Rochelle was quiet a moment. "Maybe we should consider a boat of our own."

"The time for that is probably over now. Unless we back up. We're here now. I know Coach and Ellis want to try this and I don't know if just two of us could make it to a boat on our own," Nick answered, shaking his head.

Rochelle nodded. "Right."

They were silent for a few moments and then Ellis came scrambling down the ladder.

"Hey, y'all! Coach found where the talking was coming from. It was a walkie-talkie on a dead soldier. He used it to contact the military. They said we need to head across the bridge at dawn tomorrow. They'll send a chopper for us."

"Why not go now?" Rochelle asked.

"They've already pulled out. They're gonna bomb the bridge tomorrow at first light. They'll wait for us but only 'till seven am. It's getting dark now anyhow," Ellis replied.

"Well, I guess it's settled then. At least we can get some sleep first," Nick replied.

"You guys staying down here? It's smaller up top but there's a breeze coming through the window up there," Ellis said.

"I'm okay down here," Nick replied, taking his jacket off.

"Yeah, me too," Rochelle said.

"Well, shoot. I could stay too, then," Ellis offered.

From up above, Coach's voice came to them. "Ellis, come up here for a minute, would you?"

"Okay, Coach," he replied.

A few minutes passed in which Rochelle got up and walked to the door to look out. Ellis called down to them. "Hey, guys? I'm gonna stay up here with Coach."

"Okay," Nick called up in reply. More quietly, just for Rochelle's ears, he added, "Thank God."

Rochelle smiled and turned back to the door. She was watching the last of the sun disappear behind the buildings. It didn't take long for the twilight to fall and soon the infected seemed to multiply. None appeared to sense them there in the safe house. They wandered aimlessly, occasionally getting into a fight or simply sitting down and just staring at nothing. Rochelle felt a slight sympathy for them when she saw them like this. They had been human once, with families and lives. How had she and the others been so lucky to not wind up like that?

Rochelle felt a hand on her shoulder as Nick came to stand behind her. They said nothing for a time, just stood there watching as night fell upon the scene outside.

"What are you thinking about?" Nick asked quietly.

Rochelle sighed. "I'm just thinking about how all those used to be people. Their lives are gone. Do they even remember their lives?"

"I don't know," Nick admitted.

"Then I worry about what's next," Rochelle added.

"What do you mean?"

"What happens once we get to wherever we're going? How long will we be there? How are we going to exist afterwards? Where do we go?"

"No sense in worrying about any of that now. There's nothing we can do about it," Nick replied quietly.

"True. But I'm worried about that, too. I don't have anyone to look for like Coach does. I'm feeling so alone and scared. And I **hate** being scared," Rochelle admitted.

"Hey," Nick said softly, putting his arms around her and pulling her gently against him. "You're not alone. The way I see it, we're a team now, even if Coach and Ellis find their families."

"But what about afterwards? What happens when this is all over?"

Nick was silent a moment. He leaned in and kissed her lightly near the ear and then whispered, "Well, you've got me if you want."

Rochelle turned around in Nick's embrace so she could look at him. She searched his eyes, looking for his usual sarcastic attitude and was surprised to see no hint of it. The shield that seemed always in place was dropped completely and, for the first time, Rochelle saw Nick's vulnerability. He was putting himself out there and that's when she realized she'd been hoping he would say something like that. She leaned in and lightly touched her lips to his in a brief kiss.

They looked at each other for a few moments and then Nick pulled her closer to him in an embrace that was meant to say things he couldn't verbalize. Rochelle's head rested on his chest and the beating of his heart soothed her. This felt right. She felt his hand gently grasp her chin and tip her head up so he could kiss her again.

The kiss was feather light and he pulled back to look in her eyes. His blue eyes caught and held hers. Still, there was no trace of the sarcastic Don Juan. This was simply Nick. The hesitation and uncertainty Rochelle saw in those eyes were real and she knew that he was letting her see the real Nick. She reached up and pulled him back down to her, closing her eyes as their lips touched again.

Her senses sharpened and she felt everything...the roughness of his stubble as the kiss deepened, the feel of his muscles under her hands as they traveled of their own accord up his arms and to his chest, his hands on her...one at her waist and one at the nape of her neck...and she could feel both their heartbeats getting faster. Her tongue slipped into his mouth and he met it with his and a small whimper escaped from her as she felt her stomach and chest flutter as if she were back in high school experiencing her first kiss.

The whimper that Rochelle made as their kiss deepened sent a jolt of desire through Nick's body. He wanted her more than he had any other woman, more than likely because she was smarter than any other woman he had known. Nick had never experienced that combination before-brains, beauty, sex appeal-and he knew he was in trouble. When her hands slowly dropped from his shoulders and began unbuttoning his shirt, he pulled back,

"Ro-," he started, whispering hoarsely.

She cut him off with another kiss and then she trailed down his throat to his collarbone. She placed light kisses on each before continuing her way down to the scars on his chest, her hands were at his waist and she opened the last button, pulling his shirt free of his pants in the process. She let her hands slip around to the small of his back and she pulled him against her, kissing his throat again.

"Rochelle," he tried again. "Sweetheart, if you don't stop, **I'm** not going to be able to stop."

Rochelle pulled back to look at him. "Who says I want you to?"

She watched as the smoldering flame in Nick's eyes erupted and then he was pulling her to him, kissing her hard, letting his hands travel down to pause at her small hips before going lower, pulling her even closer into him.

Rochelle gasped in surprise as this new side of Nick appeared. His kisses were hard, his arms and chest were hard-and she felt him hard against her. His hands had traveled under her shirt to her breasts where they made short work of her bra. When his hands touched her bare breasts, she sucked in her breath in pleasure. The roughness of his hands contrasted with the almost tender way he cupped each breast. Nick pulled his mouth from hers to trail kisses up her jaw to her ear where he whispered, "Take your shirt off."

She stepped back for a moment and in one swift move, removed both her shirt and bra. Rochelle watched as his eyes darkened with desire at the sight of her. She reached up and pushed his shirt off his shoulders and then he pulled her to him again. The feel of his bare chest against hers was glorious and she reveled in the feel of his skin on hers. Rochelle had never felt as excited...as **alive**...as she did now. She was worked up into almost a frenzy of desire that she had never before experienced. These new feelings were pushing her, making her want to take control when in the past she had always been content with following a lead. She didn't know if it was Nick, the life threatening situation for the past several weeks, or a combination of the two, but for the first time in her life, Rochelle knew exactly what she wanted and honestly didn't care about anything else.

She grabbed Nick's hands and pulled him down to the floor as she knelt down as well. Her hands went to his belt and undid it. There was a sense of urgency building in her that she knew could only be satisfied in one way and it blocked out all her usual inhibitions. Nick looked semi-shocked as she took the lead, unbuttoning his pants and tugging at his belt. He aided her and then turned his attention to her waist.

Finally free of the restricting clothing, Rochelle straddled his lap and, before either could so much as blink, impaled herself on him. Their simultaneous gasp was quiet out of necessity and Rochelle strangled the moan that was building in her throat before it could escape. She sat still for a moment, reveling in the feel of him and she only just realized she'd closed her eyes when he spoke her name. She opened them to find him staring at her, his hands traveling from her breasts to her hips. He held her there in place, his breaths coming in short gasps. Though he held her hips tightly, preventing her from raising herself up, she was able to rock back and forth, which she found herself doing almost subconsciously.

"Rochelle," Nick whispered again, his voice deep and hoarse. "Sweetheart, if you keep this up, I'm not gonna last."

A smile spread on her face and she leaned down to kiss him. "Neither am I."

A low, quiet moan escaped Nick's lips as she pulled away to sit up straight. She immediately fell into a hard, fast rhythm, searching for a release that she knew was closer than any other time she'd made love to a man. Never had she felt like this-and Nick's whispered, "Jesus, Ro," made the incessant throbbing she felt increase in intensity. Nick's hands were tight on her hips but now he was urging her higher and faster, thrusting himself up to meet her on her way down. His breath came in even shorter gasps and as his eyes closed, she could feel him as he released. She ground down hard on him two more times and then she, too, felt an explosion of sorts inside of her that caused her to close her eyes and whimper his name when all she wanted to do was scream it.

The feel of his hands running up her sweat-slicked sides made her open her eyes. She thought she would feel embarrassed by her behavior, self-conscious in looking into his eyes, but all she felt was a drowsy satisfaction and a confidence she had never had before. Nick's eyes had roamed her body and finally came up to meet hers again. He smiled at her and urged her down to him. Without moving off of him, she folded herself down to kiss him. She liked the feeling of him still inside of her, still a part of her, and she hadn't really expected that. Malik always moved away as fast as he could, as if he was afraid of the intimacy it implied. Not Nick. His hands were still roaming her body, exploring her.

Rochelle sighed and finally moved off of him, acknowledging the need for clothing in case Ellis decided to pop back down. As she stood and gathered her clothes, Nick sat up and put his back against the wall. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?"

She arched an eyebrow and turned to look back at him. "You realize I'm a sure thing, right? I **will** sleep with you again."

Nick laughed. "Honey, I sure hope so!"

She finished dressing and then threw his shirt at him. "As much as I'd like to keep admiring your body, it might look better for you to be dressed if Ellis decides to come back down."

"Fact. But I think Coach has that under control," Nick replied, pulling his pants on.

That made her pause a moment. "You think Coach knows what we did?"

Nick smiled and walked over to her, buckling his belt. "He's no dummy. I'm pretty sure he wanted to give us some privacy." He leaned in and brushed her lips lightly with his. "I'm glad he did."

Rochelle looked up at Nick, searching his eyes for any sign of regret or disinterest, but there was none. She smiled back. "Me, too."

Nick slipped his shirt back on and looked out at the darkness that had fallen. "Well, hopefully by this time tomorrow night, we'll be in a real bed...or at least a cot."

Rochelle nodded quietly. "The best we can do now is pile some of those burlap bags together for ground cover. Doesn't matter much, though. I'm so tired I could sleep standing up."

"Here," Nick offered, laying down after moving the bags over. "Lay against me. I'm pretty comfortable."

Rochelle knelt down next to him and pillowed her head on his chest, sighing contentedly. "This is nice."

"Yeah, it is," he replied, wrapping his arms around her. And it was. Soon her breathing evened out and Nick knew she was asleep. The last thing he thought of before he, too, drifted off was that he could definitely get used to this.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Rochelle awoke the next morning to voices coming from above her. She sat up and saw that Nick was gone and she was covered with his jacket. She glanced at her watch; it was almost 6:00 am and light was starting to brighten the room. She stood up and stretched, thinking about how they had made love a second time last night. It had been much slower and more controlled than the first time and Rochelle felt her stomach flutter at the memory of Nick's blue eyes as they closed in ecstasy, her name on his lips. That had pushed her over the edge she'd been hovering on as well.

Shaking her head and grabbing her stuff as well as Nick's jacket, she climbed up the ladder to join the others.

"Hey, Rochelle! Mornin'!" Ellis greeted her enthusiastically. Nick and Coach were talking just outside the door.

"Mornin'," she returned.

"We've got some supplies here. Looks like people left stuff when they headed across the bridge for the evac," Ellis pointed to a veritable stockpile of pipe bombs, ammo, guns, med packs, and molotovs. "Looks like we'll be headed across the bridge soon. That's what nick and Coach are discussing right now."

Rochelle bent down and loaded up on supplies, hoping she wouldn't need it all.

"Hey," Nick said as he walked back in and saw her.

"Hey," she replied, standing up. "Here's your jacket." She wasn't sure how to act in the light of day and in front of everyone else.

Nick smiled and took his jacket from her, leaning in to place a soft kiss on her forehead. "Thanks. How'd you sleep?"

Rochelle smiled back. "Pretty well."

Coach cleared his throat from the doorway. "Glad to see you're up. I think it's time to get a move on."

"Right," Nick agreed, putting his jacket on and scooping up ammo to put in the pockets.

"We radioed the military on the other side to let them know we're on our way. We're gonna have to lower the bridge first. That might stir things up a little. Make sure you have as many supplies as possible," Coach cautioned.

Rochelle nodded in understanding. "God, I really, **really** hope they have coffee when we get across!"

"God, yes!" Nick agreed.

"I hope they have cheeseburgers!" Coach countered.

"I could go for a cold beer," Ellis added.

"Yes!" the others all agreed.

They laughed and then Coach looked at each of them in turn. "We ready?"

They nodded in agreement and stepped out onto the bridge.

It was worse than they had anticipated. The clanging of the bridge as it lowered into place had seemingly stirred up every infected left in a five mile radius. They made it a quarter of the way across the bridge before they encountered the first problem. The abandoned vehicles were blocking the way so badly and so many infected were swarming over them that Ellis, who was in the lead, climbed up the small ladder on the back of a tanker truck. Coach followed and by the time Nick got on top, bringing up the rear, they were battling infected from that vantage point, unable to move forward any farther.

"We've **got** to keep moving," Coach yelled over the sound of their guns.

"Let me throw a pipe bomb to clear things up a bit," Ellis yelled, taking one off his belt.

"Throw it as far as you can, Kid!" Nick called and Ellis nodded.

Pulling his arm wayback, he let it sail a good fifty yards in front of them. They waited the short time for the beeping to attract as many of the infected as possible and then, as the explosion happened, Coach yelled, "Go!"

They ran dodging raining body parts and blood, but making it nearly halfway across. There, they faced another problem; the bridge was practically destroyed.

"Shit!" Rochelle exclaimed, turning to dispatch the three infected clawing their way towards them from the gaping hole in the bridge. "Now what?"

Nick jogged a few feet along the narrow side of the bridge that was still accessible. He shook his head and came back. "It's worse that way." He turned and looked up at the upper deck that had collapsed down onto the roadway they were on. "Think we can climb up that to the upper deck?"

Coach looked at it and then looked down the way they had been headed. "Seems like we have no choice. Let's do it."

It was stepp going and Coach had to give his gun to Ellis in order to climb it. When they reached the top, there were some discarded weapons and very few infected. While Coach caught his breath, Rochelle ran to the edge of the upper deck that was once again collapsed onto the lower one. It wasn't as steep, but more importantly, she could see across the way to the military installation. There was a helicopter there and she saw a handful of soldiers. One of them saw her and waved and she waved back.

"They're waiting for us! I see them! Let's go!" she called back.

The others caught up to her and looked down. "That isn't so bad," Coach said. "Let's go!"

They skidded down to the lower level and then made their way to the back of a box truck where there was more ammo and an additional pipe bomb. Nick threw one behind them to give them a little breathing room and that's when Rochelle saw Coach rubbing his knee.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. Old injury acting up. I'll be okay," he replied.

"We're almost there. We can do it!" Ellis encouraged them.

They left the relative safety of the truck and started pushing their way forward. The infected were worse here, so many more coming at them, and then it eased up a little.

"That's not a good sign," Nick called, stepping around yet another gaping hole.

"Tank!" Ellis yelled.

"Dammit!" Coach swore.

"Wait for it to get closer! Maybe we can lure it over the edge of this hole!" Rochelle said.

As it came at them, she pulled a molotov out and lit it. Timing would be everything. The others started shooting at it and then she cocked her arm back and let loose the burning missile. She nailed it square in the chest and the roar of pain it let out nearly shattered their eardrums.

They poured round after round into it and as she'd predicted, it charged right at the hole, blind with pain and rage.

"Yes!" Ellis hollered, elated. Nick turned to high five Rochelle and was pushed to the ground as a charger came bellowing out of nowhere. He heard Rochelle's scream and he scrambled to get up. He watched as both she and the charger disappeared over the edge of the bridge.

"No!" he screamed, running to the edge. He didn't know what he was expecting to see, but Rochelle hanging on for dear life to the bottom, worker's walkway was probably the last thing.

"Jesus Christ!" he swore, dropping flat on the ground to lean over and grab her by the arms to hoist her up.

He grabbed her to him in a fierce embrace and kissed her forehead, cheek, and mouth, "I thought you were gone!"

Rochelle was shaking like a leaf and holding on to him for dear life. "I thought so, too."

He held her away from him to look her over. "Are you all right?"

She nodded and moved away from the edge, going back to meet Coach and Ellis.

"Damn, Rochelle! I thought you were a goner!" Ellis exclaimed, giving her a quick hug. Coach did the same.

"Let's go, people. I can smell a cheeseburger!"

They were running now, siping at infected as they went. Nick allowed himself to hope. Just a few more yards and they'd be over the bridge and, hopefully, finally, **truly** safe. He watched Ellis cross the final span onto solid ground and turned to encourage the others when everything went to Hell.

Nick heard the tell-tale sound of a jockey as it made a leap towards Coach. Nick turned to fire, but just as it leapt, Coach fell. Undaunted, the jockey sprang at the nearest person which just happened to be Rochelle. Nick took careful aim and pulled the trigger. In that instant, almost as if in slow motion, a smoker lassoed his arm and pulled, sending the shot low. The last thing Nick saw before being spun around by the smoker was Rochelle buckling and falling to the ground. In what was only about fifteen seconds but what felt like fifteen minutes, Ellis was able to free Nick from the smoker and Coach had killed the jockey that had given up on Rochelle's lifeless-looking body and had launched itself at Coach again.

Nick picked himself up and ran faster than he'd ever run in his life back to Rochelle. "Oh my God," he cried, seeing the blood from the gunshot wound soaking through her left shoulder. "Rochelle!" He yelled at her, slapping her face, trying to get a response. There was none.

"Everyone! Let's go! The chopper is leaving in five minutes!" came the voice on a bullhorn from the helipad just over the bridge.

"Nick! Come on!" Ellis screamed as he and Coach came staggering up.

Nick pulled Rochelle's body up and hoisted her into his arms. A moan came from her and Nick's heart started beating again. "She's alive! Help me!"

"I've got your back!" Coach said, urging him forward. Ellis ran in front, using a shotgun to clear their way. In this fashion, they half-ran, half-staggered to the chopper. Two soldiers in hazmat suits ran to the front of the chopper while a third slammed the ramp shut as the four weary survivors finally made it. Before they could sit, the chopper lurched off the ground and Nick collapsed, cradling Rochelle to prevent her from further harm. A window opened between the cockpit and the back and a soldier called through.

"There are med supplies in that crate by you. How badly is she hurt?"

Coach staggered to the window while Ellis dug madly through the supplies. "It's bad. Jockey had her and the shot went wild."

"You're telling me she has a gunshot wound?"

"Yes, Sir."

The soldier nodded. "I'm radioing ahead for a surgical team. Our ETA is thirty minutes. Try to stop the bleeding."

Coach nodded. "Where are we headed?"

"A facility in the Florida Keys. It's secure with no sickness."

"Thank God," Coach replied and turned back to the others.

"What about these?" Ellis asked, showing nick gauze pads and tape.

"Yes. Give me those. And find me more," Nick replied calmly, although his actions belied the calmness. He was frantically pulling her shirt off and holding it against the wound. He looked up at Coach, "Help me sit her up. I don't know if the bullet went through or not." 

Coach knelt and pulled her up. "There's no exit wound. Just worry about the one in front."

Nick nodded and Ellis opened the supplies with shaking hands. Nick pulled her shirt away from the wound and replaced it with the gauze. It nearly immediately turned red with her blood.

"Rochelle, Honey...stay with me. Come on!" Nick urged as he added more gauze and started taping it down. He looked up into Coach's eyes, almost pleadingly. "She's not responding. She won't wake up. I never meant to hit her. The smoker…," he tried articulating what was going through his mind, but nothing was coming our right.

"Nick-this is **not** your fault. Don't even start blaming yourself! We all saw what happened. There was nothing you could've done," Coach interrupted.

"Nick-man, you did everything right! It's so not your fault!" Ellis added.

Nick shook his head, his throat tightening painfully with the effort to not let his emotions show. He continued cradling Rochelle in his lap, rocking her back and forth.

"The pilot said he'd radio ahead and have an emergency surgical team ready when we land. It won't be long now," Coach tried soothing him.

"Rochelle-Baby-can you hear me? Stay with me!" he whispered. "I'm sorry...so, sorry. You have to hang on. I can't be without you. You can't leave me." He kissed her forehead and held her closer. "I just found you. You've saved me. If you leave me, I'm done. Please!" And then, even more quietly, in her ear he whispered, "I love you."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The flight to the island in the Florida Keys was fast and the medical help even faster. The waiting team took Rochelle from Nick and whisked her away on a gurney. He'd put up a huge fight, wanting to go with her, but in the end Ellis was able to calm him down. The three were taken to a separate area in the medical facility where they were given a series of injections after bloodwork was done. They were placed in quarantine together for twenty-four hours where they were able to shower and get hot meals. The only information they could get about Rochelle's condition was that she was out of surgery and in the ICU ward. A doctor in full Hazmat gear came to them at the end of the twenty-four hours and drew blood from them again. He disappeared for about twenty minutes and, when he returned, he was no longer in a hazmat suit.

"Well, this looks like you might finally have some good news for us, Doc," Coach observed.

"I do. The inoculations were successful. I can answer every question you have now," he replied, sitting down.

"Where's Rochelle? Can I see her? Is she okay?" Nick asked immediately.

"She's still in ICU. Yes, you can see her, but we have her in a medically induced coma right now to try and heal her faster. She's extremely lucky. Had the bullet been a fraction of a centimeter lower, it would have pierced her heart. As it is, it tore her up pretty good. We got the bullet out and repaired a ruptured vein. Her vitals are still a bit off so we're monitoring her closely. The next few days will be the most critical for her," the doctor replied.

Nick swallowed hard. This was his fault. If she didn't pull through, how could he live with himself? If she **did** pull through, she'd hate him for sure.

"Doc, what's happening out there?" Coach gestured vaguely in his reference to the world they'd just escaped from. "How did this happen? Where do we go from here? How do we find out about our loved ones?"

The doctor sighed. "In layman's terms, this was a terrible mutation of the Ebola virus. We didn't have a cure for that and no one really focused as much attention on it as should have been. There was a bad outbreak of it in Africa and you may have heard they brought two Americans infected with it back to the Atlanta headquarters of CEDA. No one's exactly sure how it escaped and mutated (or maybe they're just unwilling to admit it), but it did. Thankfully, we've managed to create a vaccine based in part on the common flu virus and based on folks like yourselves."

Nick frowned and Ellis asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"You don't know?" the doctor asked incredulously.

"Know what?" Coach asked.

"The four of you are carriers. Or rather, **were**. Didn't you wonder why none of you got sick after coming into such close contact with the infected?"

The three men looked at each other. "I guess we were just so focused on staying alive, we hadn't had time to think about it," Nick answered sarcastically.

The doctor nodded his head. "Of course. The four of you share a rare cellular mutation that occurs in only about twelve percent of the population. We realized this in our studies and were able to extract specific cellular DNA that we were, thankfully, able to replicate fairly quickly. It's only been about two weeks now that we've been manufacturing this and starting to get it out to everyone who either hasn't been infected or who has so far been immune."

"What about people who've already been infected? Can they be cured?" Ellis asked.

The doctor shook his head. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to come up with a cure."

"I don't really care about any of this right now. Can I see Ro?" Nick interrupted.

"Of course. You're free to move about this facility, but we can't allow any of you to leave for thirty days, just in case," the doctor replied. "There's a nurse's station just outside the door here and to the right. Ask there and someone will take you to her."

Nick nodded his head and left.

"Doc, is there some way to find out who's safe? I mean, I don't even know where to start," Coach asked.

The doctor replied, "I'm afraid I don't have very good news there. The virus spread so rapidly that a tremendous amount of the population has been infected. Right now, as you saw with the evacuation of New Orleans, the government has called in the military to help. Once you're infected, your body basically begins to decay as if you're dead. The brain decays first and only the most primal instincts are left...similar to rabies in animals. The decay seems to affect the epidermis more than bones and muscles. That's why those who are infected are able to keep moving for so long. We aren't sure how long they exist like this. So far the infected we have contained and being observed are still animated, though with increasingly diminished functions. We are anticipating death in roughly sixty to ninety days. That's created serious disposal issues.

"People coming through evac stations have stopped. We've pulled completely out of the mainland. There are halfway points like this one on several islands where people have come through inoculation centers. We've been sending them out on boats to live for now. The infected can't swim. People are holed up on any body of water they can find. We do have a list of people who've come through all the evac stations, but it's small. We can search the database for you," the doctor replied quietly.

Coach looked at Ellis, "How many people are on the list?" Ellis asked.

"About two hundred thousand right now."

"That's **all**?!" Ellis exclaimed. "That's not much for this evac station."

"No. That figure is nationwide," the doctor replied.

The enormity of the situation hit home then and Ellis swallowed hard.

"It's a lot to take in. But remember, that number only reflects how many people have come through official evac stations. There are certainly more survivors. The more remote, the better the chances. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you."

"Thanks, Doc. I'd appreciate it if you could show me where to look this info up," Coach said.

"Of course. Follow me."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

The first thing Nick noticed was that, considering this was medical center, there were almost no patients. It was a testament to the severity of the virus. The only other patients he saw included a man on crutches with a broken leg and a woman being treated for burns on her arms. The next thing he noticed was that Rochelle was in a ward all to herself. The nurse that had brought him to her quietly left and he stood there for a moment, simply looking at her.

She was hooked up to several machines and an IV unit. She looked positively tiny in the bed with all the medical equipment surrounding her. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought she was simply asleep; she looked peaceful. Her shoulder and chest were bandaged where she'd been shot-where **he** had shot her-and Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he went to her and pulled the chair next to the bed up to her side. Sitting in it, he simply stared at for a while. Finally, he reached out and touched her hand, noticing for the first time how small it was. Everything about her seemed small to him. These past few weeks he had seen her so full of life and fury that he never realized she was so small in stature. He worked up the courage to touch her cheek and lightly brushed her hair to the side. He had never seen her with her hair loose. She had always kept it tied back. It made her look softer, more delicate...a way he had never seen her before.

He sat there for a long while, not saying anything. What could he say? He had done this to her. He was supposed to watch over and protect her...and this is what happened. If she woke up...no, **when** she woke up...she would want nothing to do with him. How could she want to be with him after this? Nick swallowed hard, trying to come to terms with that.

In just the few weeks he had been with her, Rochelle had made a huge impact on him. Maybe it was because of the life threatening situations they'd faced. Maybe it was just her. It didn't matter. All Nick knew was that he had found himself in a situation he'd sworn never to be in again. And this time it's ruination was directly related to his actions. Jesus Christ, he'd **shot** her...nearly killed her...might still be the cause of her death. And the realization of that almost brought him to his knees. He sunk into the chair next to her bed and hung his head, clasping his hands together. He didn't believe in God much, but he wasn't taking any chances. Quietly he prayed for her recovery. A gambling man needed to cover all his bets.

"Nick." Coach's voice came to him as if from far away. He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder and heard his name again. This time he opened his eyes.

"Hey. Sorry. I must have fallen asleep," he replied, rubbing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

"Nick, it's no wonder you were asleep. You should be sleeping in a bed, not a chair," Coach returned gently.

Nick turned to look at Rochelle who was still not awake. "I don't want to risk her waking up when I'm not here. The doctor said they've taken her off the meds keeping her under. She can wake up at any time."

Ellis and Coach exchanged looks. That had been two days ago and still she hadn't come up and out of the coma. It was starting to look bad for her, but neither wanted to put a voice to that concern.

"Nick, you gotta take a break. You need a chance to get something to eat and freshen up," Ellis said carefully.

"I don't want her to be alone," Nick replied.

"She won't be. Ellis and I will stay right here until you come back. Please, Nick. We're worried about you," Coach urged.

Nick rubbed his face, feeling a good start on a beard. "I could use a shave, huh?" he asked.

"And a hot meal," Coach added.

"I don't want to be rude, but you should take a quick shower, too," Ellis added. "I mean, I don't think you want Rochelle waking up to how you look right now," he added sheepishly.

Nick sighed. "You're right. I'll be back in thirty minutes. Please-," here his voice wavered a bit, "please let me know if anything changes."

"Of course," Coach answered, urging him gently to the door. Once he was gone, Ellis turned to look at Coach.

"Don't you think we should tell him what the doctor said about Ro?"

Coach looked at her before turning back to Ellis. "No. Not yet. Maybe he's wrong."

Ellis nodded. "I sure hope so."

Coach went to her side and held her hand. "Little Sister, you gotta pull through this. You've got to-for your sake and Nick's. I've never seen a man so torn up about something like this. He's blaming himself. If you leave, you're gonna kill him. And I can't take losing one of our little family, let alone two."

Ellis stepped up to her other side and picked up her other hand. "Coach is right, Rochelle. Nick's awful tore up about what's happened. The doctors say if you haven't come out of your deep sleep here by tomorrow, things are lookin' real bad for you. I know you're hurt and all, but you gotta try harder to get better."

"We'll be allowed to leave here in three weeks. That means you have to wake up now so you can get strong enough to come with us," Coach added.

They stood quietly for a time and then Ellis asked, "Hey, Coach? Ya think you could maybe say a prayer with me for her? I don't know how to talk to God myself...I just kind of listen and agree with the preacher. I think maybe it might be a good idea to say something to God now."

Coach nodded and smiled. "I agree, Son. I'm not a fancy speaker but I don't think God is too concerned with that. I think He just wants to hear what's in our hearts. Let's bow our heads."

Ellis did and they both held on to Rochelle's hands as Coach began. "Lord, our little sister here needs a whole lotta extra lookin' after. We know there's a lot going on right now, but we also know You've helped us this far. We just need a little extra help for Rochelle here. You can't have helped us all this way just to let one of us fail now. And Lord-it won't be one you take. If You take Ro, he's gonna want to follow. Please, these two just found each other. Don't separate them now. Heal our Ro and help mend Nick's heart. In Jesus' name, Amen."

"Amen," Ellis repeated emphatically. "That's everything I was thinking, Coach."

They stood for a while in silence, hoping they'd see an immediate response to their prayer, but saw no change. Nick returned, looking clean, but not exactly fresh. Dark circles had taken up residence under his eyes and his cheeks had a hollow look to them.

"Did you get something to eat?" Coach asked.

"I'm not hungry," Nick replIed, walking back to Rochelle's side.

"Dammit, Nick! You gotta eat! You gotta keep your strength up. What good will you be to Rochelle when she wakes up and you have no strength to help her?" Coach remonstrated gently.

"I'll go fetch ya somethin', Nick," Ellis supplied helpfully. "I'll bring you a sandwich from the kitchen." Ellis left in search of food for Nick.

Nick sank into the chair and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He looked back up at Coach and said simply, "It's not good."

Coach pulled a chair up from the other, unoccupied bedside on the other side of the privacy curtain and sat down. "I can't lie to ya, Nick. The doc is worried about her."

Nick nodded once and then rested his forehead on his hands on the railing of Rochelle's bed.

Coach laid his head back in the chair he was sitting in and closed his eyes, silently reiterating the prayer he'd said earlier.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Her nose itched, which was annoying. She was so comfortable...more so than she'd been in a while...and she believed if she scratched it, she'd wake up and this wonderful bed would be all a dream. She decided to fight the urge to scratch it and sink back into oblivion. The only problem with that plan was that she was beginning to hear things, too. Somewhere, hovering around the conscious world near her itch, was a quiet beeping. Well, that was annoying...even more so than the itch. And that just brought her even closer to losing her comfortable bed.

She lay there, still hovering, when she heard a quiet voice speaking. She couldn't make out whose voice, but now she was even closer to waking up. It was a nice voice, but she didn't want to concentrate on it. But now the itch was starting to bug her for her attention even more. She fought harder, but the beeping was intruding more now, too. Maybe she could scratch the itch and keep her eyes shut to keep consciousness at bay? She tried moving her left hand, but something seemed to be holding it down. That was strange. She managed to curl one finger, but she felt like she was battling through a hundred heavy blankets on her arm to make it move. Fine. Maybe she could continue to ignore it.

But now the voice was starting to make some words, and that was making her listen, which was bringing her even farther up out of the nice, comfortable oblivion she had been in. Now she was annoyed. Couldn't this person talk somewhere else? She heard, "sorry" and "life" and "without", but those were the only words she heard out of the murmur. She found herself unwillingly straining to hear more. She liked this voice-it was comforting to her-a man's voice. It sounded familiar but she was still a little fuzzy and wasn't sure who it belonged to.

More words and a few phrases started coming through now: "I never" and "can't leave" and "breaking". And now the tone of the voice began to register. He sounded terribly upset. His voice seemed to be breaking. What was wrong? The she heard a new voice. This one was much deeper but comforting as well. She could make out some of his words, too: "Not your fault" and "terrible accident". Huh. That sounded sad. Then she heard the deep voice say, "Nick".

Nick. That was **very** familiar. She knew that name. The first voice...that was who the name belonged to. She was sure of that. She found herself listening more closely while she tried again to move her hand to scratch that annoying itch.

"She will never" and "may not survive" followed in this Nick's voice. Huh. Sounded scary. Some woman may not survive? Nick's voice choked off and she could hear him take a deep breath. He was very close to her left ear. Maybe he could scratch the itch for her? She decided it might be worth waking up and losing her comfortable bed if it meant scratching the itch. She tried lifting her hand again to get his attention. She felt four fingers move this time: progress! But it wasn't enough to catch anyone's attention.

Nick spoke again and this time she started hearing full sentences. "God, I'm so sorry. I can't lose you." It sounded like he was about to cry. She felt her heart breaking for this Nick. Then, "I love you, Rochelle."

Rochelle? **She** was Rochelle. With that realization, everything that had happened to her in the last several weeks came crashing back down on her. Weeks of battling through the infected, trying to find safety-traveling from Savannah to New Orleans-being thrown together in the motley group of now friends-making that last dash across the bridge in New Orleans-and Nick. The softness of the bed and the allure of continued sleep evaporated as she remembered Nick. He was worried about someone...she'd heard it in his voice. And he'd said he loved her!

With a mighty effort, as if fighting off a hundred pound weight, Rochelle slowly opened her eyes. Everything was ridiculously blurry and she blinked a few times to clear them. She still couldn't raise a hand to wipe them, but she would figure that out later. She slowly looked around her and realized several things at once through her slightly groggy haze. First, she was clearly in a hospital. The beeping continued from a machine that was next to her. Second, she was hooked up to that machine and others, hence her hand not moving easily. Third, she could make out the form of Coach sitting in a chair with his eyes closed. And fourth, she could see Nick's head as it was resting on his arms on her bed.

She wanted to touch his hair and make him turn to face her so she could see those blue eyes of his again. She wanted to touch his face, kiss him, tell him how much she had missed him...but he wasn't looking at her and she still struggled to move more than a few fingers on the hand farthest from Nick.

She tried to make a sound and that was when she realized she had a massive tube in her mouth and down her throat. What the Hell? Was that a **breathing** tube?! What had happened to her? She wracked her memory, trying to sort through her memories to the last thing she could remember: the bridge. She could remember running across the bridge to get to the military chopper on the other side. She remembered fighting through what seemed like a thousand infected. She remembered nearly falling to her death when the charger hit her and Nick's strong arms as he pulled her back to safety. She remembered defeating the tank and making it nearly to the end of the bridge and the jockey that had launched itself at Coach. But try as she might, she couldn't remember anything after that.

She was staring at Nick's head, trying to will him to turn towards her. As if by magic or emotional telepathy, he did! But his eyes were closed and he didn't see her watching him. She started working harder on her right hand and found she was able to slowly begin to open and close it. Now she was alarmed. Nick had dark circles under his eyes and she thought back to snatches of conversation she'd heard. He'd been worried about someone...it had sounded like she might not pull through...and Rochelle finally pulled everything together in her still foggy brain and realized it had been **her**. What the Hell had happened to her?

With a supreme effort, she started moving her left hand, one finger first. Maybe Nick would feel the movement? No. The man was infuriating even when he wasn't talking! Rochelle forced thoughts at him, wishing she could say, "You said you love me! I love you, too! Look at me, please!" And then she thought about how he'd kissed her, touched her, possessed her. She felt her stomach flutter and she heard the beeping of the machine change its tempo.

And apparently, so did Nick. Slowly, his eyes opened and Rochelle watched those beautiful blue orbs focus on a spot near her elbow. Then he lifted his head, frowning at the machine that had changed in sound. Rochelle moved her right hand again and this time Nick saw it. His head immediately turned and when their eyes met, Rochelle watched the emotions roll over this face. There was a slight hesitation and then he whispered her name hoarsely and bent to kiss her cheek. When he pulled away, there were tears in his eyes as he said, "Coach! Get the doctor!"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

There had been a flurry of activity. The doctor had appeared immediately, followed by two nurses. Coach, Nick, and Ellis (who'd appeared with a sandwich in his hand) had all been asked to step away to allow for the medical team to work. Rochelle had watched as machines were checked and double checked, nurses took blood, reflexes were checked, and then the doctor asked if she'd like the breathing tube removed. She blinked several times since she couldn't speak and couldn't really nod her head with it still in.

"This won't hurt, but it's going to be feel awkward. You're going to want to cough, but try not to. Your throat will be sore afterwards and you probably won't be able to talk for a day or two," the doctor told her.

She blinked her eyes in acknowledgement and did her best not to move or cough as the impossibly long tube was removed from her throat. She winced as she coughed and weakly nodded as the doctor asked if she was okay. 

"Let's see how your wound is doing, shall we?" he asked.

She tried to ask, "What wound?" but found she had no voice and it hurt worse than almost anything else to make nothing more than a sound. The doctor cautioned her, "Don't try to talk, Rochelle. We'll get you a pen and paper. Do you remember how you got here?" he asked as he began working on the bandages on her left shoulder.

Rochelle shook her head and frowned as she noticed for the first time the dressing on her shoulder. What had happened to her?

"The wound is looking good. I'm pleased with the progress of the healing." He turned to the nurse. "This can be changed now." She nodded and disappeared to get supplies.

Turning back to Rochelle, the doctor smiled gently at her. "You were very lucky. From what I understand, the four of you made it all the way from Savannah? You all suffered only relatively minor wounds except for the witch attack on Nick. He told me you were responsible for patching him up. You did a good job with the supplies you had available. I don't think, however, anyone would have been able to patch you up. You can thank God or fate that you were so close to the evac when you got shot."

Rochelle frowned. Shot? By whom? What the Hell? She brought her hand up weakly to get the doctor's attention. At that moment, a nurse reappeared with pen and paper. "Her friends are getting very antsy, Doctor. Can they come back in?"

"Yes. They can hear how well she's doing."

Rochelle saw Ellis first. He nearly ran to her bedside. "Rochelle! You're awake! I'm mighty glad to see that. You had us all so worried. Didn't seem right that you might not make it after we finally reached safety! How do you feel?"

"Ellis, Son...take a step back. You're gonna overwhelm her," Coach said gently.

"Sorry, Rochelle," Ellis said sheepishly.

"She can't really speak yet," the doctor added. "The breathing tube really irritated the throat. Try to keep your questions to a minimum because she's still a little weak to write well."

Rochelle smiled at her two friends and could see nick in the very back, hovering behind Coach. She motioned for the pen and paper. It was much harder to make her hands write than she thought. That concerned her so the first word she wrote was, "Weak?"

The doctor looked and nodded. "You've been in this ICU for a week. You're going to find you're a little weak. Don't worry...it won't take long to regain your strength now that you're awake."

Rochelle nodded. Her eyes were still searching for Nick. Why was he staying so far back? She wanted to write something to make him come closer but the doctor interrupted her thoughts. "I was just telling her how lucky she was that you were near our facility. Her wound is healing nicely."

"That's good to hear, Doc," Coach replied

"Yeah. We're really relieved to hear that. We thought she was a goner," Ellis added.

"Son, maybe you need to stop talking for a while," Coach replied.

Ellis closed his mouth and nodded.

Rochelle grabbed her pen and paper and tried to write, "What happened to me?" but only had the strength to write, "What hap-?"

The doctor stood up. "I'll let you all fill her in on everything, but don't overwhelm her, okay? She's going to be feeling very sleepy and we want her to rest."

"Thanks, Doc," Coach said. "We'll watch over her, to be sure."

The doctor put his hand on Coach's shoulder. "You four are pretty amazing."

Coach and Ellis moved to either side of Rochelle while Nick stayed at the foot of her bed. "How're you feeling, Ro?"

She nodded her head and then pointed at her pad again. She wanted an answer. Coach nodded his head. "You remember running across the bridge?"

She nodded.

"Do you remember the charger knocking you over the edge?"

She nodded again.

Coach looked at Nick before asking, "Do you remember the jockey?"

Rochelle gave a so-so signal with her hand and Coach nodded again.

"So we were almost at the end of the bridge when a jockey leapt at me. At just about the same moment, my knee gave out and I went down. Instead of going for me, it hit you." Here, Coach paused for Rochelle's reaction. "Do you remember that?"

She nodded yes.

"Well, at about the same time, a smoker was sneaking up on us from behind. Nick took aim at the jockey but the smoker grabbed him and pulled him away." Coach hesitated, looking at Nick again. Rochelle frowned, not understanding, and looked to Nick for an answer.

Nick looked physically ill. He picked his head up to meet Rochelle's eyes with his own, haunted ones before quietly saying, "It was me. I'm the one who shot you. I'm the one who nearly killed you."

Rochelle blinked a few times, processing everything that had been said. Before she could manage to write her thoughts or even raise her hand, Nick said, "I'm sorry, Rochelle. I know you have to hate me. I hate myself." And without any other word, he turned and left.

There was dead silence in the room. Rochelle looked at Coach who looked at Ellis who looked at the floor. Finally, Ellis looked up and spoke.

"Rochelle, I hope you cand find it in your heart to forgive him. He near about died when he realized what had happened. He went back for you, picked you up, and ran the rest of the way across the bridge to the chopper with you in his arms. He held on to you the whole way here and we almost had to pry his hands off of you once the med team arrived. He hasn't left your side all week, 'cept to go shower and use the bathroom. He's slept in this chair and wouldn't leave you for a minute. He loves you more than anything...even I can see that. If you can't forgive him, he's gonna fall so far ain't no one ever gonna be able to help him back. And I reckon that's what we've all done for him these last few weeks we've been together. But you, more than anyone, have helped him. You have to see how he's changed." Ellis took Rochelle's hand in both of his. "Please, Rochelle. You didn't see what he's been through, waiting for you to wake up. Think about it for me, will ya?" Here, Ellis raised her hand to his lips and gave it a kiss before placing it back by her side and leaving the room.

Coach turned and looked at Rochelle. "Well, I'll be damned. That boy never ceases to surprise me."

Rochelle smiled and nodded her head.

"Baby Girl, everything he said, I stand behind, too. Nick loves you more than his own life. He's been at a terrible war with himself since this happened. I never seen a man so tore up. I hope you can forgive him?" This last was more of a question.

Rochelle grabbed Coach's hand with both of hers. She wanted to tell him to find Nick, bring him back to her...but she was suddenly so tired. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open but she needed to let him know how she felt. She managed to croak out, "Nick," and Coach knelt at her side.

"You want to see him?" he asked hopefully.

She nodded her head and let her arms fall back to her sides.

"I'll make sure he's here when you wake up, don't you worry," Coach said smiling. He just knew things were going to be okay.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

_And this chapter brings me to the end of my story. I hope those who've read this enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Thanks for coming along for the ride!_

Voices were what started dragging Rochelle back out of the oblivion of sleep she had sunk into. Men's voices, even whispered ones, were so annoying. Why did they have to talk right over her? She could hear Coach saying something and then she clearly heard Nick say, "She'll never forgive me." That gave her the kick she needed to fully wake up and open her eyes.

"Nick, I've told you-she wants to see you!" came Coach's voice as Rochelle forced her eyes to open. She saw Nick next to her bed and reached out to his hand. She brushed it lightly but couldn't grab hold like she wanted to. He felt the touch, however, and turned to look at her. She motioned for him to come closer and when he did, she finally managed to grab his hand with both of hers. She pulled so that he had to lean close to her. She looked into his eyes and willed him to see her love for him, her forgiveness. His eyes were dull and she recognized the return of the shield he had worn for so long. She was so groggy from the medications that it was difficult to focus on what she wanted to say; there was just so much! But with consciousness slipping away again, she made a supreme effort to speak around the soreness of her throat.

"Don't leave me," she whispered and as she felt herself slipping back into sleep, she saw the hope light up in his eyes as he whispered her name, leaning in to kiss her forehead.

As Rochelle woke up, she realized a few things almost all at once. She actually felt **awake**: no groggy, can't-stay-awake feeling this time. She felt stronger, too. She was able to pull herself up in the bed and rub her eyes. And she was **hungry**. Her stomach growled to accompany that thought so loudly that Nick, who was asleep in the chair next to the bed, stirred and opened his eyes.

"Hey," she said quietly and smiled.

"Hey," he replied quietly, standing up and moving to her side.

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Almost two weeks. You've been sleeping now for about two days."

"**Two days**?!" she exclaimed.

"The doctor said it was the best medicine for you. How do you feel?" Nick asked, concern in his eyes.

"Surprisingly more like myself. I don't feel groggy, I can move pretty well, and I'm hungry. Guess those are all good signs?" she smiled in return.

"Yeah. And you don't sound quite so much like Darth Vader any more," Nick added, cracking a small smile.

Rochelle grimaced. "I bet I look a mess."

Nick brushed a strand of hair back out of her face. "You look beautiful." His hand had dropped to her cheek and she reached up to take it in hers.

"Nick-," she began.

"Rochelle-," he started.

They both stopped and she laughed lightly. "You first," she encouraged him.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath, gathering his thoughts and his courage. "Rochelle, you **do** remember why you're in the hospital, right?"

She nodded. "Poor marksmanship," she replied, smiling gently, trying to ease things for him.

Nick grimaced. "I hope you know how I feel about this. I was so upset when I realized what I'd done. I've never felt like that in my life. And I never want to again." Here he paused before adding, "I didn't think you'd ever want to see me again. I wouldn't have blamed you."

"Nick, don't you think I know this was a terrible accident? Do you know how many times I worried about my aim when someone needed me the most? You're the marksman of the group; the smoker pulled your aim off at the last moment. Ellis told me that you were the one who went back for me...carried me to the helicopter. Someone else would probably have left me for dead but you **saved** me. Don't you think you should cut yourself some slack?" Rochelle asked.

Nick shrugged. "Regardless, I would understand if you want nothing to do with me."

Rochelle shifted in the bed to make room for him to sit down next to her. He did so reluctantly and didn't meet her eyes. She touched his cheek and gently made him turn to look at her. She sat there quietly looking at him, searching for the right words to heal him.

"If you'd have told me two months ago that I'd be fighting for my life with three people I didn't know, against thousands of freakin' zombies, I'd have said you were out of your mind. If you had told me that one of these three people would make me feel more alive and desirable than ever before-that I'd not only sleep with him but damn near rape him-I'd have called the men in white jackets. It's true though...all of it. I've never acted this way, **felt** this way, in my entire life. Nick, you make me **feel**...and it's sad to say, but I've n**ever** felt like this before. I never knew I could be the way I was with you when we made love. The way I acted?" Here, Rochelle shook her head incredulously. "I didn't know who I was! It was like this part of me that I never knew existed just pushed 'normal Rochelle' out of the way and decided to take over. **No** man has made me feel like that. I look at you and can't keep my hands off of you. Just being near you...it's like there's this current between is." Rochelle made a face. "That sounds so trite, but it's true.

"Nick, I don't know how you feel, but I don't want to lose you. I'll admit I'm scared about what's coming next, but even if I weren't, I don't want to do anything without you." She leaned over and, her hands on either side of his face, gently pulled him into a kiss.

She felt tension leave his body and when the kiss broke, he pulled her to him in an embrace. Her arms slid around him and she turned to say quietly in his ear, "I love you."

Any remaining tension she felt in his body fled at that and he pulled her even tighter before releasing her to search her eyes. "I love you, too," he smiled and then kissed her again.

"Hey, y'all! I brought-oh. Well. Shoot-I have **the** worst timing ever!" came Ellis' voice from the foot of the bed.

They broke apart and Nick laughed. Rochelle looked at what Ellis had in his hands and said, "Ellis, Honey, if that's a sandwich, I'll forgive you!"

Coach came in and saw the two still holding each other and smiled contentedly. "I'm glad everything's back to normal. It's about damn time! And I've got news. We're on the waiting list for a boat of our own so we can head out to hook up with other evacuees. There's a small floating village here in the Keys with people hanging out and supporting each other for the time being. I'm hoping to find my wife and her sister there. You all are coming, right?"

Nick and Rochelle looked at each other. "I go where you go," she said simply.

Nick smiled and turned to Coach. "I guess we're with you, then."

"Oh, man! This is gonna be awesome! This one time, my buddy Keith-well, he decided to go boating. It wasn't on the ocean-just a creek near us. Well, he started fishing when-," Ellis began. The three other survivors laughed together. Whatever the future held, it was going to be all right.


End file.
